Ripples in Time
by Rachel500
Summary: Even a strong woman breaks. There is only person Sam Carter trusts to change the future: Sam Carter.


Stargate SG1 is somebody else's, probably MGM/Gekko Corp/Sci-fi, and I freely admit that whoever's it is, I'm borrowing their show and they retain all rights, etc

**Author's Note:** Sam/Jack. Hints of Daniel/Vala.

Happy International Women's Day!

Written as part of the Rough Trade challenge in 2019 to end a movie in a different way, I chose Stargate Continuum. Violence in line with the show; spoilers abound for all seasons of SG1, SGA and the two Stargate tv movies, especially Continuum.

**Prologue**

_**Alternate timeline – Present day**_

_Even the strongest of women can break._

Samantha Carter had lived through trauma and battles and losses of friends and lovers before. She'd ended up in prisons and universes which were not her own. She'd saved the world and her team so many times she'd lost count. She'd served her country; she'd put her oath of service and her duty first for years; denied a love for years for duty, served in another galaxy because of duty. She'd fought and fought and fought…

Jack was dead.

The image of his body lying on the floor as the Tok'ra building shook around them haunted her.

_Her_ Jack was dead.

They hadn't been together long, just since they'd finally managed assignments in the wake of the Goa'uld war ending which didn't compromise their professional duty. Because of that, theirs had always been a long-distance relationship; first, Nevada, then the SGC once more, and for the past year, Atlantis. But they had made it work, and if there had been one positive in her sudden reassignment back to Earth, it had been the thought that she could spend more time with Jack.

Time.

What a mockery.

Ba'al had changed the timeline and the world in which Sam lived and breathed. Her own counterpart was dead. Cam's didn't exist, the Mitchell family wiped out with the death of Cam's grandfather on the Achilles. Daniel's was somewhere out there living the life of a disgraced academic. Who knew what had become of Teal'c and Vala…but Sam suspected Ba'al would have planned something unpleasant for both of her dear friends. And Jack…

The cold glare of the alive and breathing _Colonel_ O'Neill as he rejected their story, rejected them, rejected her…it also haunted her and underscored that _her_ Jack was dead.

Sam might have dealt with the blow of his loss in her own world, her own timeline. She and Jack had always accepted the possibility one of them would fall in the line of duty. Losing Jack, grieving for Jack, was not unexpected. Just devastating. Her heart was broken. She felt his loss like a hole in her own soul. But with her friends and family around her, with the comfort of continuing the fight, with the ability to lose herself in her work, she might have withstood the pain.

But in the changed timeline, Sam was stripped of everything she loved.

Blow after blow on top of losing Jack.

She'd lost the wider world she knew. History had taken a similar but different course. She knew even if they allowed her anywhere near Colorado, her own home, her neighbourhood…the people she used to see in the fabric of her day to day life would likely be different.

And because she was the interloper, she'd lost the right to her name; she was told to wear glasses and keep a low profile lest someone see her similarity to the Samantha Carter who had died a hero.

Sam had lost the SGC, the position she'd worked so hard to earn, and the work she loved. They refused to allow her to work even at the most entry-level position in her fields of expertise. She couldn't get lost in the puzzles of the Stargate, of astronomy and astrophysics, of engineering. She was adrift; her professional skills, experience and capability unwanted.

She might have handled all of that, but then there was one more cruelty…

The three of them who had survived the timeline change were split up and sent far from each other. They were not allowed to communicate. The danger they represented too great for the world to allow it. Sam might have been flattered at how dangerous they considered them, if she hadn't had to deal with the grief of losing Daniel and Cam too.

It was the final straw.

She broke.

Alone in the tiny apartment that had been provided for her, she closed the door, set the meagre suitcase with the minimal beginnings of a wardrobe and essentials down, and sat down hard on the sofa, all her strength gone.

Her grief was suddenly all-consuming.

Her mind whirled; memories flooded her, overwhelmed her. She wanted to stay in the safety of them forever.

When she startled into consciousness, it was as though she was waking from a long dream, and the apartment was shadowed in darkness.

Teal'c stood by the door, dressed in his typical fashion on base; blue BDU pants, black t-shirt. He stood as he always stood; hands behind his back, back straight. His head shone, the gold brand of Apophis upon his brow.

He was a hallucination but he was welcome.

"You must protect yourself, Colonel Carter," the shade of Teal'c informed her. "You must remain strong and healthy to do so."

"Yes," Sam agreed.

She stretched, easing out the stiffness which had set in during her mourning. She bathed her face at the sink in the kitchen, drank some of the water. She opened the refrigerator and found it empty. There was a bare pantry. She searched and found a take-away leaflet in an empty drawer. She ordered a pizza with the credit card the government had provided. She had been told she had three months to find paid employment.

By the time the pizza arrived Sam had explored the small apartment from corner to corner. For all they considered her a risk, there were no cameras, no surveillance bugs. There was also a minimum of furniture; no linens for the bed or towels for the bathroom. There was a small amount of kitchen equipment; plates, cutlery, pans. There were at least lightbulbs in the few lamps and the ceiling fittings. She would have to outfit the place herself.

"But that's better, isn't it?" asked the hallucination of Daniel, with a hairstyle reminiscent of their first year together. "It will mean you can make this what you want it. Create something for you."

Sam hummed her agreement.

She staggered into the bedroom and lay on top of the bare bed; she'd slept in worse places. She blinked; Jack was lying beside her, curled up on his side, facing her.

She knew he wasn't real.

"Is this where you tell me I need to get off my ass and save myself?" Sam asked.

The ghost of Jack O'Neill smiled back at her. "Always."

She'd smiled through her tears as she fell asleep.

The next day, she took a perfunctory shower, drying off using one of her t-shirts. She mapped out travel to the nearest mall and walked there, enjoying the sunshine and the air on her face. Her shopping trip was executed like a battle plan.

By the end of the second day, the apartment was hers.

A print of a pyramid was hung on a wall over the mantel; a bright blue rug the colour of the event horizon of a wormhole softened the hardwood floor; cushions adorned the uncomfortable sofa along with a matching wool throw. She'd bought linen in the same colour and her bed was quickly made; pillows, comforter and another throw.

Her bathroom was stocked with her favourite products; a fun shower curtain with dancing fish replaced the drab beige one provided. The kitchen was stocked with the basics – she'd never been all that interested or had the time to invest in cooking or baking except for an occasional effort – but she wouldn't go hungry. There was a small plant she placed on the window.

Finally, she lit a multitude of candles. The Teal'c who guarded her door looked on with an expression of satisfaction.

She settled in to set up the brand-new laptop she owned.

Her hallucination of Daniel slid into the chair opposite her. "What are you doing?"

"Creating my own world," Sam replied. Her first forays were cautious; she set up email, online banking and applied for an internet book-keeping course which she could complete in less than two months. Satisfied, she headed to bed where she fell asleep with Jack watching over her.

Six weeks later, she had a book-keeping qualification and had set-up an online business. Her government handler who reminded her too much of Kerry Johnson, was pleased at her progress, but less pleased at the notebooks she had found in Sam's wardrobe filled with the designs of the F303 and F304. Sam was unsurprised when they were confiscated.

Sam had also set-up a separate bank account from her government one which she funded with online poker winnings. She played the stock-market and built up her funds. She bought nothing that would raise attention. Orlin had built a Stargate in her basement mostly using her household goods; she can build her time travel machine doing the same. She coded in between doing the drudge work of book-keeping.

Three months after being stranded in Ba'al's changed timeline, not!Kerry brought along Jack O'Neill on her usual visit.

Sam had figured they'd ask him to question her at some point and she was amused at how he looked supremely uncomfortable as she ushered her visitors inside. She made an offer of coffee which normally her handler would accept (they'd developed something of a camaraderie) but wasn't surprised when it was refused in the shadow of O'Neill's looming presence.

Her handler made quick work of the cursory search and confiscated another set of notebooks filled with the research on zero point energy. She left and the apartment fell into silence.

O'Neill sighed. "Look, I'm not thrilled to be here…"

"Really," Sam said dryly, "I would never have guessed."

O'Neill's expression tightened. "We have questions."

"I answered every question I was asked five times over," Sam countered.

A muscle ticked in his jaw. "These are new questions."

Sam held up her hands in mock surrender and directed them to sit at the small table and chairs.

The questions were relevant to the design of the F303; engineering questions, alternatives for the fuel since naquadria was unknown to Earth. She answered them carefully and succinctly. O'Neill appeared to listen, actually taking notes.

Sam looked across the table at O'Neill and realised that for the first time she truly understood how her alternate universe counterpart must have felt entering their universe, interacting with their Jack who was not hers.

"There's an offer to bring you into the programme if you agree to give up any notion of reverting the timeline," O'Neill stated bluntly.

Sam allowed a small moment of pride before she shook her head. "I can't do that." She knew even if she pretended, she'd end up a prisoner, watched constantly. At least on the outside she had a degree of freedom.

O'Neill stood abruptly. "I told them this was pointless. Hank was right," he pointed at her, "you and your friends are just arrogant jackasses."

It stung even though she wished it didn't.

"I thought we were freaks," Sam shot back, keeping her voice even and unemotional.

O'Neill turned on his heel and marched to the door. He turned back abruptly, hands stuffed in his pockets, and glowered at her again.

"I don't get you," he said, "why give us the designs, and, _please_ let's not pretend the notebooks aren't you passive-aggressively giving us stuff we need, if you're not prepared to give up on changing the timeline."

"You know why," Sam retorted.

"You really think this Ball character is going to invade," O'Neill commented.

"I know he is," Sam replied.

O'Neill searched her gaze. "What gives you the right to decide which timeline is the right one?"

"The right timeline is the one where Jack O'Neill doesn't prefer something created by a Goa'uld," Sam said fiercely as she stood up. "Ask yourself this, Colonel; when Ba'al comes, and he will come, how are you planning to defeat him without a decade of Stargate exploration while he's had years to consolidate his own power base among the Goa'uld?" She leaned over the table. "You've only got a small jump on him because somehow Daniel, Cam and I made it into this timeline, and even then, you won't do the one guaranteed thing which is required to defeat him."

O'Neill glared at her.

"And I don't blame you for that," Sam sighed, straightening. "Your son is alive so why would you choose another timeline where he isn't?" She smiled sadly. "It doesn't change the fact that the only way this world can survive is to revert the timeline."

"You could help us defeat him in this timeline," O'Neill pointed out. "You're already helping with these notebooks."

"I'm giving us a fighting chance," Sam agreed. "But that doesn't mean whatever small amount I do for you will work."

He walked out.

She closed her eyes briefly and when she opened them, Teal'c was again guarding her door, Daniel occupied the chair O'Neill had vacated and Vala sat on his lap.

Sam blinked. It was the first time her mind had conjured up the dark-haired wild former host who had become a good friend.

Vala met her eyes sadly. "This Jack O'Neill has never been tortured by Ba'al. He doesn't know what's coming. But we do."

"But we do," Sam repeated.

"You should probably get back to work," Daniel said, raising his illusionary mug of coffee.

"He's right," her Jack chimed in at her side, "time travel doesn't just invent itself."

Ironically, there was not enough time.

Sam pocketed the device she'd built, untested but only just finished, when she gets picked up by the Air Force and taken to the President. Ba'al's arrival had finally prompted the government to bring in all three of the former members of SG1.

The plan they formulated to get the President's support was stupid and anybody with any experience of the Goa'uld would know that; get to the Stargate, retrieve a cargo ship from somewhere, get a ZPM and trigger the chair in Antarctica…stupid. But it had gotten them what they needed – access to the Stargate. Sam prayed they could survive long enough to do what was needed as they dodged gliders on their way to Russia.

Once they were in front of the Stargate and free of the authority figures who would stop them, they formulated a new plan: to find Ba'al's fail safe time travel device. They could use it to reset the timeline. They even had Teal'c back. Kind of.

But once on Praxyon, Ba'al's device was cumbersome and the only date close to their required year was still a decade too early. Also, Sam mused, they were under attack which did not help.

Sam managed to glimpse a Jaffa turning to fire on her and dropped to the floor. The bolt of energy sizzled over her head. She scrambled for the wormhole, Cam covering her with rapid gunfire, and she saw him hit just before she flew through.

She landed on the dusty floor of a warehouse in Egypt. The Stargate winked out.

For a moment, she lay there and breathed.

Sam had travelled back before the impact event to the timeline; she could stop Ba'al preventing the Achilles from reaching the States, she could revert the timeline to its proper course. She knew if Cam had made the trip, he would already be moving, already be considering how to get himself through the next decade and onto the Achilles.

But.

But.

She sat up. Her eyes flickered across the space and she saw the conjured images of her team standing waiting by the silent Stargate.

Teal'c bowed his head. Daniel gave her a wave. Jack raised a scarred eyebrow in a silent question.

_What was she going to do?_

Her fingers skimmed the slim device she'd strapped to her forearm under her clothes.

Her untested gadget was based on Ancient time travel technology. Sam had studied the device in the puddlejumper extensively after finding the ship on Maybourne's planet. She knew it would work.

She would shift forward in time and stop Ba'al. She must do that. She could not allow a timeline which danced to Ba'al's tune to ever exist and she needed her own timeline to be restored…

But.

But.

What if she could do more?

What if she could change everything for the _better_?

"_You have untapped greatness inside you, Sam, but you're limited by your own fears. You play by the rules, you do as you're told, and you deny yourself your own desires."_

The words of her Replicator double whispered like temptation through her mind.

Sam shook her head. If she was using the words of a Replicator to advocate for a plan, it was the wrong plan.

"Is it?" asked the hallucination of Daniel, suddenly in front of her.

"Isn't it?" replied Sam, uncertain suddenly. "Changing the timeline is huge, Daniel. It isn't something which can be undertaken lightly."

"You're right," the image of Cameron Mitchell formed beside her, a Jiminy Cricket to remind her of her duty.

"Undertaken _lightly_," her conjured Jack stated with an amused smirk.

The hallucination of Vala appeared, leaning on Daniel and twirling a pigtail. "Think of everything you could change; you could free the Jaffa earlier, save Atlantis from waking the Wraith, save your friends."

Teal'c hummed. "Indeed."

Sam got to her feet and rubbed her head. It ached fiercely and she was dizzy from lack of food from hours of travel, from the absence of the adrenaline which had coursed through her in their flight to the Stargate and the fight at Praxyon.

"I need to think about this," Sam murmured, closing her eyes briefly. "I need time to think about this."

Only the hallucination of Jack remained when she opened them again. "So, just as well you have a time machine then?" He waggled his eyebrows.

Sam sighed. He was lucky she loved him.

"Excuse me?" A harried voice sounded behind her and she turned to find a familiar bespectacled man glaring at her. "Who are you? What are you doing here?!"

Sam swallowed hard as her mind finally placed him. "Hello, Doctor Langford."

o-O-o

_**1931**_

"Why do you have to leave, Samantha?" Catherine Langford's girlish voice was little more than a whine.

Sam smiled at her before resuming her packing. "I've spent more time here than I intended. I have to return to my home."

Catherine heaved a heavy sigh. "But who's going to tutor me when you're gone?"

"I'm only one of your tutors, Catherine," Sam said briskly.

"He's not going to appoint anyone else to teach me how to fight," grumbled Catherine.

"I think you've already had a good enough instruction in _that_," Sam commented dryly. She'd taught the young girl everything she knew from firing a weapon to basic self-defence. Catherine would be able to take care of herself.

Catherine bit her lip. "Is this because Father wants to marry you?"

Sam sighed and paused in her packing. "Your Father has been very kind to me," she said, "and he's a good man." Paul Langford had been nothing but a true friend to her since she'd hurtled through the Stargate and into the past. He'd hidden her; provided for her; helped her.

"But you're still in love with your Jack?" Catherine's sigh was dramatic. "I hope I'll find someone who loves me."

Sam didn't turn around to acknowledge the smug hallucination of Jack behind her. Her conjured companions rarely showed up anymore. The two years she had spent in the past had provided healing in a way that the year in the altered timeline had not.

She knew her own future with Jack would play out without her. She'd accepted that. She was a stranded time traveller with no way back to her former self. A Samantha Carter would be born and live out her life in a future where Ba'al's fail safe was not used, and Sam swore it would happen because she would stop Ba'al. But Sam herself…

There would have been a time when Sam would have planned to take herself completely out of play once she'd set the timeline right. Sam could remember every time she'd told Jack they needed to maintain the timeline; every time she had lied and said she couldn't fix the Ancient time machine. Her past and future self would be, _will be_ horrified at the idea that Sam intended to alter the timeline beyond its restoration. There were a thousand things she wanted to change, but she knew that every change brought its own ripple effect. Changing too much would invite chaos; there would be no guarantee that in the end the sum of her changes would add up to a better future.

Sam had defined three key events she thought made a true difference to her timeline; if she could change those, she would create a better, stronger, safer future for the world, for her family.

But first…she needed to stop Ba'al.

Sam finished her packing in the company of Catherine. She hugged the young girl goodbye, her mind a kaleidoscope of memories of Catherine in the past, present and future.

Sam spent a restless night. She huddled under the rough cotton sheets and wondered if she was doing the right thing. If Hank Landry had thought her arrogant for wanting to restore the previous timeline, what would he say to her want to change it? What would her father say or General Hammond, her childhood Uncle George?

The shades of her team guarded her sleepless night.

It was an early start.

Sam dressed in the clothes she'd worn when she'd been thrown back in time. She braided her long hair out of the way. She holstered a gun to her belt; she was ready.

With the rest of her luggage already waiting for her in the jeep, she picked up her pack and walked out to greet Paul. He offered a small smile and opened the passenger door for her.

The drive out to the desert was familiar, cool enough that the air through the window was fresh rather than warm; the sky still hovering between dark and the first beginnings of dawn.

The small encampment nobody knew about but the two of them was deserted. As the sun rose overhead, Sam tugged away the dust sheet hiding the Ancient puddle jumper. They'd taken the extra precaution of a camouflage tent and Paul dismantled it as she packed her belongings inside the alien ship.

Daniel's form hovered beside her as she and Paul stood awkwardly together to say goodbye.

"I can't thank you enough," Sam murmured. "If you hadn't believed and helped me…"

Paul clasped her hands tightly. "You have been a wonderful friend to me and my daughter, Samantha. We will miss you."

"I will miss you both too," Sam said.

Paul rubbed a thumb over the back of her hand. "Are you certain you can't tell me anything more about the artefact?"

Sam smiled at his teasing tone. "I wish I could but the timeline…" Her smile faded. "Even staying here for the past two years, it may have done irreparable damage…"

"I don't see how teaching my daughter to fulfil her potential could cause damage," Paul asserted, "you're an inspiration to her; she will be a strong independent woman. And I have learned much from you too. I will always want to protect her, but…she deserves to have her intelligence and her courage supported not squashed."

Sam smiled ruefully. "Catherine is one of _my_ inspirations."

Paul raised their clasped hands and kissed her knuckles before releasing her. "Good luck, Samantha."

"Thank you," Sam said fiercely.

She headed into the puddlejumper with the spectre of Daniel beside her.

"He's a good man," Daniel commented.

"He is," Sam said.

She turned her attention to the puddlejumper.

It had taken almost the full two years to enable the Ancient ship to work without the ATA gene. Luckily Sam had been able to use the laptop computers another Sam had left hidden. Her own time travel device had helped in part. That was working perfectly; the past two years had enabled her to test and refine it.

The puddlejumper was ready. The time travel device was ready. She was ready.

She tapped out instructions to cloak the puddlejumper and to take it into low orbit. Once she had established a stable flight path which would take her beyond the solar system, she sent out a coded communication to a much needed and much missed ally. She settled in for the flight. She knew it could take days for her communication to be heard let alone a reply sent back.

It took only twenty-four hours.

Sam woke with the puddlejumper's warning systems flashing and sounding the alarm. She hurriedly shut off the noise, brought the ship to a gentle stop, gaping at the sight in front of her.

The Bilisker.

Thor's chariot.

A second later, a familiar sound echoed around her and Sam found herself and her transport in the hold of the Asgard ship.

She hurried out of the puddlejumper as Thor entered the hold.

It broke her heart to see him. The death of the Asgard had been a terrible, terrible moment. Sam had missed her friend.

"Thor."

Thor's wide eyes blinked, and she wondered if that was because she knew who he was or because her voice overflowed with her affection for him. "I do not believe we have met."

"No, we haven't," Sam said, "at least not yet."

Thor tilted his head questioningly.

"It's a long story," Sam said.

"You have my attention," Thor countered.

They reconvened in a sparse lab in the bowels of Thor's ship.

Her tale took less time than she had thought but more than she had hoped, all the while she tried to stick only to what she needed Thor to know and avoiding telling him too much of their future. She admitted they didn't meet for many years but said nothing of how and when they would meet; she told him that the Asgards and the Tau'ri became great friends, enough that the Asgard believed them in the future to be the potential Fifth great race.

She told him of Ba'al and the change of the timeline; of what happened in the new timeline Ba'al had wrought; of her own mission to set the timeline to rights. She asked for his help to travel to Praxyon and back to Earth; she could take the puddlejumper to the nearest Stargate beyond Earth as her current flight path was set, but she would rather not risk using the gate system.

She stumbled to a stop with a dry throat. A glass of water appeared on the table in front of her and she drank it gladly.

"I was unaware either the Goa'uld or the Tau'ri had the technology to determine effective time travel," Thor murmured.

"I based my device on Ancient technology," Sam admitted, "Ba'al must have had the idea after learning it from records he stole from us. We travelled through time by accident when a solar flare intersected with an active wormhole."

Thor studied her intently. "The device which governs the dialling sequence of the Stargate prevents such a wormhole from forming."

"Earth creates its own device," Sam said, blushing, "and originally it didn't have that safety feature because we didn't know we needed it. I assume Ba'al modified the dialling device on Praxyon."

"Ba'al cannot be allowed to alter the timeline," Thor stated. "As Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet and sworn protector of the Protected Planets treaty, on this I can agree."

"Thank you," Sam said.

Thor looked at her with concern. "I am uncertain it is wise to travel to Praxyon. Why not simply stop him as he steps through the Stargate on Earth?"

"The timeline changes as soon as Ba'al triggers the wormhole," Sam stated firmly, setting the glass down again, "the incoming Stargate will blow a hole in the side of the ship transporting it, endangering its trip to the States; in the original timeline no such damage was wrought, no sailor on the ship was witness to the Stargate triggering, no Jaffa or Goa'uld came through."

She let Thor absorb the point before moving onto the next one.

"Stopping Ba'al as soon as he steps through onto Earth would prevent him from creating his Empire and coming back to rule Earth in the future, but it would inevitably impact Earth's own timeline," Sam continued. "If I had no choice, no way to travel through space to Praxyon, it would be my only option, but it would be best if I can stop him before he even triggers the Stargate. That means I need to stop him in the future at Praxyon at the moment he arrives to make his journey to the past."

Behind Thor, her hallucinatory Teal'c looked on approvingly.

Thor acknowledged her words with an inclination of his head. "You called for my assistance even though our meeting will also impact the timeline."

"Asgard records indicated that you were on a solo long-range sensor mission for most of this decade," Sam stated, glancing over at the apparition of Daniel who waved back at her. It had been Daniel who had created a full history of Thor's life, one which Sam had devoured.

Thor blinked at her. "You have access to the records of previous Asgardian missions?"

"Yes," Sam said without expanding on how she had that access. The legacy of the Asgards was something that she treasured. "I also know you won't allow any contact with me now to influence your future interactions with myself or the Tau'ri in the future."

"You are correct," Thor said. "For this reason, I will provide you with the assistance you need to get to Praxyon and return you to Earth."

Sam breathed out in relief. Her vision of Jack grinned across the table at her.

Thor was as good as his word. They immediately made the jump to hyperspace. A day later, Sam and the Ancient puddlejumper assumed a cloaked synchronous orbit above Praxyon.

It didn't take long to set the time travel device she had created.

Sam theorised that she could travel from a moment before nineteen-thirty-nine to the moment where Ba'al would go to Praxyon because that moment existed to the past, but if she was travelling from any time after nineteen-thirty-nine, she would not find it. It was confusing, but time travel always was, and she could only hope her theory was right.

Sam pressed the device and found herself back in her future, the day before Ba'al's extraction ceremony. Her timeline counterpart would be arriving from Atlantis and finding out that she had been dismissed from her leadership there.

A quick scan showed that the fail-safe chamber was empty of life.

She beamed down and accessed the computer downloading all the information she could, set explosive devices and disabled the Stargate. She returned to the puddlejumper and waited.

It felt like forever before Ba'al's ship arrived.

Her sensors detected the beam down and she immediately triggered the explosions. A laser beam of her own design, powered by the Ancient puddlejumper, neatly destroyed Ba'al's ship simultaneously.

"Nice," her hallucination of Jack commented.

Sam smiled. She knew someone else may have given into the need to face Ba'al, to laugh in his face that he had failed, but…she preferred efficiency.

She performed a scan and was pleased when it came back with no life signs detected. She waited another hour for the fires to burn out before beaming down to double-check. Ba'al was dead; the burnt husk of his body at the control table with the symbiote an unmoving lump beside it. Everything was in ruins. She re-enabled the Stargate and dialled to a planet being swallowed up by lava; she sent through the bodies.

Somewhere on the new Tok'ra homeworld, Ba'al's extraction was taking place without Vala disappearing, without Jack dying, without a mad scramble to the 'gate. Sam vaguely remembered she had intended to nudge Jack into making an offer of lunch, to talk to him about the non-existing moon-base he was teasing the entire Pentagon with.

It was over.

Sam beamed back to the puddlejumper. She transported the Stargate into an orbit around the planet creating a space-gate and making it difficult for anyone to re-establish the fail safe. She triggered the time travel device and reappeared just briefly after she left, back in the past once more.

Thor beamed her back into the hold and took her back to Earth.

"What will you do now, Colonel Carter?" asked Thor as they said their farewells.

"Return the puddlejumper to Egypt, destroy the time travel device, and find somewhere remote to settle," Sam said, lying through her teeth.

But, for the first time since she'd formed her plan to interfere in the timeline, she felt guilty at the idea of further interference. Thor and her mission had reminded her of who she was once before Ba'al had destroyed her timeline.

Thor hummed and nodded. "I very much look forward to making your acquaintance in the future."

Sam smiled sadly and surprised Thor with a gentle hug. "Goodbye, Thor, and…" she hesitated but ploughed on despite her inner uncertainty, "perhaps rethink your current cloning solutions? Compounded errors can lead to cascade failures which are not easily recoverable."

Thor's alien eyes opened wide and he inclined his head. He shifted the stone on the control panel and Sam found herself back in orbit above Earth. She cloaked and waited until Thor left before she reached for her time travel device.

Her hand hovered over the device.

"You are no longer certain about your course of action, Colonel Carter?" Her mind conjured up Teal'c to stand behind her.

An illusionary Cam joined them and he frowned at her from the back of the jumper. "Of course she's rethinking this. What gives her the right to change time?"

"But doesn't she have a duty to change it if she can?" asked her imaginary Daniel. "If she can prevent so many from dying? Isn't it right for her to change things?"

The shade of Vala lifted an eyebrow, lounging in the back of the jumper and twirling a pigtail. "It's a risk."

Maybe Sam had been alone too much. Maybe her grief had blinded her to the right course of action. She just didn't know what the right thing to do was anymore. She looked at the illusion sitting beside her.

Jack just raised an eyebrow, his warm brown eyes on hers. "It's your call, Carter."

And she knew suddenly what she needed to do. Sam pressed her lips together and triggered the time travel device.

o-O-o

_**2004**_

"Hello, Sam."

Sam froze at the sound of her own voice. She paused in the doorway to her den, her gaze narrowing instantly on the figure who stood by her sofa. She calculated how fast she could get to her nearest gun only for her duplicate to raise the one which was usually strapped under the coffee table.

"I took some precautions."

"Alternate universe?" asked Sam as casually as she could manage.

Her duplicate shook her head, sending the long waves of blonde hair flying. Why did all her counterparts have long hair, thought Sam furiously. She _liked_ her short cut. She did. It was not the only difference between them; Sam was dressed in her service blues fresh from her unexpected promotion ceremony, while the woman in front of her was dressed in jeans, a t-shirt and a leather flight jacket.

"Clone?" Sam tried again.

"Alternate timeline," her duplicate said, "I'm you, just a few years ahead."

Sam frowned.

"Full bird," her duplicate continued, "so really you should be saluting me."

Sam rolled her eyes at the grin the other sported. "Is that what should I call you then? Colonel?"

"Call me Carter."

Sam sighed and reached for her phone. "I need to call…"

"Not yet," Carter stated, cutting her off abruptly, "we need to talk first."

Sam glared at her. "It's against…"

"Protocol," Carter said, "only we followed that with Orlin, didn't we? And where did that get us?"

Sam rubbed her head and gave in because it was difficult to argue with herself on that point. She suspected if she followed protocol, her counterpart would disappear just like Orlin. Well, maybe not just like Orlin because she didn't think she'd ever go the Ascension route.

"Take a seat," Carter invited her into her own den and waved at a chair.

"Thank you," Sam said dryly. But she took the seat.

Carter served up cups of tea. "I ordered Chinese; it's in the kitchen when we're ready to eat."

"What do you want to talk about?" asked Sam.

"Changing the timeline," Carter stated bluntly.

Sam frowned heavily at that.

"Ba'al went back in time, screwed things up," Carter said, "I've just got back from making sure that's fixed."

"That's good," Sam said, wondering if it was over why Carter had decided to return and talk with her.

"I had to spend a lot of time in the past before I could fix it and…I started thinking I could do more," Carter continued. "I thought I could come back to this moment and change things, but…" she sighed heavily. "Thor helped me stop Ba'al and I remembered who I was…who _you_ are right now."

Sam shifted, unsettled. "You – _we_ wouldn't consider changing the timeline for no reason."

Carter sipped her tea. "I'm just not sure grief is a good enough reason."

Sam froze and stared at her counterpart.

"Jack died," Carter almost whispered the words, "Ba'al killed him. He told me to go and I did. I followed his order and I left him and…I lost Jack and I lost everyone!"

Sam hadn't realised she had moved until her arms were around Carter. She held her as the other woman cried on her shoulder. Her own emotions rose in sympathy at the heart-wrenching sobs.

"I lost all of them," Carter said thinly, as her tears slowed. "And now I'm so lost."

Sam swallowed hard past the lump in her throat. "I'm so sorry."

Carter stirred and pulled away. They sat beside each other on the sofa, staring at their abandoned tea.

"Would the change to the timeline save Jack?" asked Sam bluntly.

Carter sighed and reached for her cold tea. "When I reset the timeline, Jack was saved."

"I don't understand," Sam admitted, feeling bewildered.

"I think we need something stronger than tea," Carter muttered.

Sam got up. She retrieved a bottle of wine from the refrigerator and poured out two glasses of golden chardonnay. She handed one to Carter and kept the other, returning to her previous seat.

"Something broke inside of me," Carter confessed after a gulp of wine, "I spent a year in the other timeline, grieving for Jack and the others, just waiting to fix things and something…_I_ broke."

Sam bit her lip, but she remembered all too well the moments when she'd come close to breaking herself.

"I fought to keep going because I needed to save Jack, our team, to save this timeline, but then…" Carter sighed. "Then I finally got to this timeline, but too early. Like I said, I had time to plot everything out. I had to make sure the time travel device I created worked so I could stop Ba'al before he stepped into the past. I knew that had to be first, but I began to think why couldn't I do more? If I could go forward in time and change that, why couldn't I just make another few changes and improve our odds?"

Sam cupped her wineglass with both hands and sighed. She understood the thinking.

"I told myself that I'd already changed things by existing in my own past even if the changes were minimally felt," Carter continued, "so what were a few other changes if they saved lives?"

"And what do you think now?" asked Sam.

Carter sipped her wine and set it aside. "I think I don't trust _me_ with this." She sighed. "In the other timeline, they took everything from me; split the three of us who'd survived the change up and refused to let us speak to each other, they banned me from the programme and they wouldn't let me work in our field. They took my identity."

"You said you lost yourself," Sam murmured.

"I played by the rules, _we_ play by the rules," Carter said, "but there I couldn't. I had to work against them…"

"And we've always broken the rules if it meant saving Earth, saving the team," Sam concluded. She took a sip of her own wine and considered everything she'd heard.

In many ways she could understand why Carter had ended up deciding to change things. She'd been alone and grieving; forced into a mindset where playing by the rules wouldn't have saved them. Given enough time…_time. _

Her mind latches onto something Carter had said; something relevant and, frankly, astounding.

"You can travel through time," Sam said out loud, "you created a device which allows you to do that."

"Yes," Carter confirmed. "I based it on a technology you still have to encounter."

"You can move through time, but you needed Thor's help," Sam continued to think aloud, "so you needed help to move through space." She frowned. "Why? You could…you didn't want to use the Stargate; didn't have access to a ship…or one that would take you there quick enough."

Carter smiled. "Is it narcissistic to enjoy how you're putting the pieces together?"

Sam resolutely didn't say out loud the personal pieces she'd started to put together. She focused again on the professional. "You deliberately went to a point in the timeline to minimise damage and I have no doubt you minimised your impact in the past or else we'd already be seeing a butterfly effect. So, you were careful in your changes and you picked here to come back to make an impact. I don't believe you did that without a lot of careful thought, why?"

Carter sighed. "I mapped out our past. I tried to find the moment when a change would make the most difference to Earth and our allies."

Sam pressed her lips together. "We sent a letter back in time to save Earth from the genocide of the Aschen. Are the changes you want to make that kind of level of saving?"

Carter frowned. "Not genocide, but…we fight on three fronts over the next few years. Here in this galaxy with a powerful enemy we've yet to meet, where Atlantis resides there are other dangers, and here on Earth, we have issues. It takes a toll."

"But Earth survives?" Sam questioned her carefully, hiding her dismay at the idea of more enemies.

"Yes," Carter confirmed. "We survive. So, you see my dilemma? What right do I have to change things?"

"What right do we have to walk through the Stargate?" Sam countered.

She was amused at the look of surprise on the face on Carter's face.

"Look," Sam said, "you and I both know meddling in the past is a bad idea because it puts the future at risk. Every change we make here has an impact going forward. It would be easy to make a mistake and end up changing everything. We can't guarantee that the people we love would still be alive or that things work out the way we want them to. You have to protect the present; the status quo…unless that's something you really want to change."

Carter nodded slowly. "We managed to screw everything up travelling in time once."

Sam's mouth dropped open. "What?"

"Another us allowed the team to travel back to Egypt and retrieve a ZPM; it ended up saving Atlantis," Carter stated. "Only according to the video they left they screwed up and changed too much of the future. They ended up having to go back again to save themselves and ensure the future was restored."

Sam stared at Carter. She shook her head and tried to get rid of the thousand burning questions racing through her mind. "So, we meddle with time in the future and that's OK?!"

"I get the impression it was never OK with us," Carter said dryly. "Jack complained in the video that I wouldn't let him go and watch his favourite World Series."

Sam laughed.

"There's at least two other moments I know about where time travel impacts our timeline," Carter continued. "They're not on Earth but they count. In each case the past was changed to help make a better future."

"And knowing all that, knowing we had the opportunity to change time, you determined it would be best to do it now," Sam said slowly.

"This was a pivotal moment," Carter said firmly, "and I have the math to prove it." She gestured with her wineglass. "It was a moment of change. SG1, the team was never the same after this."

"Because of the General's promotion," Sam surmised.

Carter nodded. "And ours. And because we find Atlantis."

Sam bit her lip again. "This is beginning to get into territory where we're going to change things just with this conversation."

Carter got to her feet and paced. "The future isn't bad," she admitted, "we're alive, many of the people we love are alive, and the Stargate programme is doing well. I just…we have the chance to save people. I was so certain when I came back that it was the right thing to do but…"

"You've been through a lot, and you're questioning your motives and your judgement," Sam said when Carter fell into silence.

"You have a better chance of making the right decision," Carter said. Her lips quirked into a facsimile of a smile. "It's your call, Sam."

They're both quiet for a long moment.

Sam finally waved at the sofa and Carter sat back down.

"Tell me what you want to change," Sam instructed gently. "If I don't agree, I know better than to say anything to change it. So…tell me what you want to change."

o-O-o

Debriefings around the conference table were not unusual but given the end of the lockdown of the SGC, Sam felt a moment's weirdness as she took her place.

Jack sat at the head of the table, the stars on his BDUs shining under the artificial lights. Sam had taken the seat to Jack's right with Teal'c beside her. Daniel sat to Jack's left. Doctor Brightman, the Chief Medical Officer, was next to Daniel, and Major Davis was next to her. Colonel Reynolds, the leader of SG3, was beside Teal'c, and Richard Woolsey, newly appointed to the IOA as the United States representative at the request of the President sat next to Davis.

Sam paid attention as they went through the past week; the actions which had been taken and the commands given. She contributed to the report crisply and clearly. Her heart pounded a touch harder in her chest than normal. Everything that had happened had followed the mission report she'd read thanks to Carter – everything from Vaselov's illness, to Daniel being shot (Sam felt a twinge of guilt about that but she had healed him), to where Sam had ultimately ended up sending Anubis.

She'd thought about sending him somewhere else but when she'd been in front of the computer, she'd only remembered the coordinates of KS7-535.

Everything had happened just as in Carter's timeline. Sam had thought she'd known what her decision was going to be; had believed it right up until that moment. She bit her lip.

It was her call.

Carter was gone.

Sam had left her asleep on the sofa, only to wake the next morning to find a note of goodbye, an assurance Carter would disappear and would not interfere, and a laptop filled with information on the future.

Sam had backed it all up to an external hard drive, encrypted the heck out of it, and spent her weekend reading up on the mission reports, on the Replicator who would wear Sam's own face, on Atlantis, on the Ori.

Her fingers tightened on her pen.

She had made her decision.

Carter said they'd all survived. They were all alive in the future. How could Sam risk that?

But they weren't safe, Sam reminded herself. She'd read everything on the Wraith, on the Ori. She knew what was coming. Death and destruction. And she could prevent it.

For a long moment, she hated Carter for giving the decision to her, and in the next breath, she knew what she was going to do.

"Right," Jack began to wrap up, "I need to go have another really uncomfortable conversation with the Russians…"

"Sir," Sam interrupted him gently but firmly, "given the renewed threat of Anubis, I strongly recommend that SG1 be deployed to Antarctica immediately."

Jack stared at her.

Daniel's head shot up; his eyes wide behind his glasses.

"You do?" Both men spoke together.

Sam shot Daniel a look but nodded at Jack. "Yes, sir," she said, "Daniel believed that we would find the answer to destroying Anubis on Atlantis and the outpost in Antarctica is our best shot of discovering where Atlantis might be."

"Or a way of defeating Anubis," Daniel jumped in eagerly, "the chair may be able to access information in the database there."

Jack's jaw clenched, a sign of his unhappiness. He hadn't wanted his stars; hated stepping out of the field. But he was a good leader and he was what the SGC needed with General Hammond assigned to Washington. Sam knew he was struggling adjusting to his new command and sought comfort in their presence.

"I also think you should come with us, sir," Sam continued, brightly. "You have the strongest expression of the gene and the chair responds best to you. Unless we have approval to test non-SGC personnel for the gene and find someone else, we're limited in ability to access the chair."

Davis shifted further down the table, politely signalling his want to speak. Jack gestured at him.

"Firstly, I agree we need to find additional people to man the chair and you are the best person for that right now. But is now the best time to leave the SGC, General?" Davis asked pointedly.

"No," Jack admitted, meeting his gaze, "but there is no best time."

"Indeed," murmured Teal'c.

"I believe the President would see the value in this recommendation," Woolsey pompously said from the far end of the table. "The IOA would certainly support it. They've been requesting further help at the outpost since Doctor Weir and her team arrived there."

Jack's fingers picked up his pen and he tapped it lightly on the folder in front of him as he turned to look at Sam. "You don't think Anubis is stuck on that ice planet?"

Sam was saved from speaking when Sarah Brightman spoke up.

"We don't know enough about his hybrid physiology, sir," the doctor said, "while a human body would not be able to cope with the temperatures, Anubis may be able to change the composition of the cells through his half-Ascended powers to withstand the temperature."

"He may already be off planet and plotting then," Daniel murmured.

"Well," Jack quipped, throwing his pen down, "that's a sobering thought."

Sam allowed a visible wince as Jack's eyes landed on Daniel.

"You know Sam's right, Jack," Daniel commented. "Antarctica is our best hope for finding some way to stop him permanently."

"Sir," Sam said insistently, regaining Jack's attention, "we cannot give Anubis time to rebuild." She sighed and glanced apologetically at Teal'c. "I'd also recommend Teal'c going off world and seeking intelligence about the remaining Goa'uld and their movements. There will be a power vacuum and someone will step forward to fill it."

Jack's gaze slid to the Jaffa beside her. "What do you think, T? Want to chime in here?"

"I believe Colonel Carter is correct," Teal'c intoned.

Jack's expression softened minutely. "She often is." His eyes slid to the leader of SG3. "Reynolds?"

"I agree with Colonel Carter, sir," Reynolds said. "But I also take Major Davis' point; the SGC needs experienced leaders in command in your absence. I know Colonel Dixon was being assigned to the outpost but if you and SG1 are going, I'd recommend he stay here until your return."

Jack considered their words and nodded sharply. "OK," he conceded, "I'll discuss the recommendation with General Hammond and the Joint Chiefs. We'll take it from there." He got to his feet and Sam followed along with the other military personnel.

Sam blinked.

She'd done it.

She'd made the first move to changing the timeline.

"Is everything well, Colonel Carter?"

Sam looked up and found both Daniel and Teal'c regarding her with concerned looks. They were alone and Jack was back in his office, reaching for the red phone. His eyes caught on hers through the window glass and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Sam managed a smile and turned back to her team-mates. "Everything's fine, Teal'c."

"Are you sure?" Daniel fell into step next to her on their way out of the room. "Only you know if we go to Antarctica it will delay you getting confirmed as team leader and…"

Sam waved away his words as they got into the elevator, even as she wondered whether Carter had pushed to earn her leadership instead of going. "It's the right thing to do, Daniel."

"Indeed," Teal'c said warmly.

o-O-o

"Sir?"

Jack looked up from his paperwork. The small lamp in the office brightened only a small part of it and it looked cosy in semi-darkness.

"Carter," Jack blinked at her before he glanced to his clock, "it's late. Aren't all good Lieutenant Colonels meant to be in bed, I mean at home now?"

Sam smiled amused. "Aren't all Generals, General?"

Jack grimaced. "If only." He waved at the stack of folders. "Apparently, this all needs cleared before we depart for our trip to the ice and cold."

Sam winced sympathetically. "Sorry, sir."

"I'd say it's not your fault," Jack countered, his brown eyes warming as he teased her, "but our trip is your fault so…"

"I take full responsibility, sir," Sam quipped back. She fidgeted with the folder in her hand. "I, uh, I guess this can wait."

Jack lifted an eyebrow and waved her in. "I appreciate the interruption," he lied blatantly, "anything is better than deciding…" he checked the paper in front of him, "if we should have more porridge or Fruit Loops."

"You hate Fruit Loops," Sam commented. He'd barely eaten them after the time loop incident.

"Porridge it is then," Jack signed his name, slapped the folder shut and set it on top of another stack. "Take a seat, Carter. What's on your mind? Changed your mind about us freezing our asses off?"

"Ah, no, sir," Sam replied, "actually I came to talk to you about SG1."

Jack gestured for her to take a seat.

Sam placed the folder in front of him. "I've reviewed our past missions based on a three-person team."

Jack flipped the folder open and read her summary. He flipped it shut again, looking disheartened. "You run this by Daniel and Teal'c?"

Sam nodded. "We went over my initial results together."

"You need a fourth," Jack sighed heavily.

Sam gathered her courage. Carter had called him Jack; not General. "We all wish it could still be you, sir."

"You deserve the promotion, Carter," Jack replied sincerely.

Sam smiled. "Thank you, sir, and for what it's worth; so do you."

Jack grimaced but his eyes were appreciative on hers. "You have any candidates in mind?"

Sam shifted. "There's a rumour you offered the place to Cameron Mitchell."

Jack visibly winced. "Ah, you heard about that."

"Walter's quite the gossip, sir," Sam quipped, aiming to lighten the mood. She didn't really want to berate Jack for offering Cam the position without talking with her first.

"He's got a long journey ahead of him, Carter," Jack said, "if he makes it through his rehab, we'll all discuss it again. Until then?" He shrugged.

Sam nodded, understanding why Jack had seemingly agreed to the request; to motivate Cam in his recovery. "I understand, sir," she said out loud, "and I will appreciate the discussion since Colonel Mitchell has time in rank on me and so would be the senior officer on the team if he were assigned."

She could see the shock of that truth skate across Jack's features. It clearly hadn't occurred to him.

"Carter, that's not…" Jack shook his head lightly and met her gaze directly, "Mitchell may have time in rank, but you have more time in the programme. You're my choice as the new SG1 team lead, and you will _always_ be my choice."

"Thank you, sir," Sam said quietly. She knew it wouldn't work out as Jack wanted thanks to the mission reports from the future, but she recognised in that timeline she'd clearly left the SGC before Mitchell had been assigned and her reassignment had been unexpected. "I'd like to discuss some options for the fourth member with you, sir, given Colonel Mitchell cannot be assigned at this time."

Jack sat back and silently invited her to speak.

"Captain Hailey would be a good candidate and my first choice," Sam began, "she'd bright and can take over as science lead. However, she's still on maternity leave."

"Grogan, Grogan, Grogan," muttered Jack, shaking his head.

Sam bit her lip to stop from smiling. The young captain had been the one to knock-up Hailey. "I did think about him too, sir, but he's better suited to his current assignment on SG12."

"Daniel had a couple of civilian candidates," Sam continued, "Bill Lee and Nyan." She gestured at Jack. "I sounded both out and neither are interested in joining an off-world team."

"I know a civilian who would," Jack teased. "Felger's been transferred to Area 51 but we could always bring him back."

"Respectfully, sir," Sam retorted, "I like Jay but over my dead body."

Jack grinned and nodded. "Who else?"

"I have two candidates," Sam said, "Major Lorne and Major Sheppard."

Jack frowned. "Lorne, I get. He'd be a good second; he has a good head on his shoulders, good record." He gestured across the table. "Who's Sheppard?"

"Major John Sheppard," Sam said, gestured at the file again, "he's stationed at McMurdo. He's not in the programme but he flew helicopter rescue for most of the downed pilots after the battle; he was recommended by his CO for a commendation."

Jack opened the file and read the second report Sam had slipped in with the recommendations. "He has no gate experience."

"Neither did we," Sam said. "He's Special Forces; he can fly anything, and he can think on his feet. I was thinking we could interview him when we go to McMurdo." She shifted position. "I've discussed it with Daniel and Teal'c, and we are all thinking the fourth place could maybe become a rotation. We can share skills and knowledge; refresh SG1 with new blood. If Sheppard joined, he'd potentially be ready for his own team lead position after a year."

Jack sighed. "It's not a bad idea."

"But?" Sam prompted.

"No but," Jack denied, "it's just a change."

Sam smiled at him. "You'll always have a place on SG1, sir."

Jack smiled back at her. "I will?"

"Daniel, Teal'c and I all agree, sir," Sam said firmly. "Just like Jonas."

"Jonas," Jack repeated, "I don't suppose we could get Jonas to come back and be your fourth?"

"I wish we could," Sam admitted.

Jack closed the folder. "I agree with your recommendations. You need a fourth. We'll talk to Sheppard when we're at McMurdo. I like the rotation idea too so let's do that."

"Thank you, sir," Sam accepted the folder back from him. She waved at the rest of his paperwork. "Anything I can help with, sir?"

"Unfortunately not," Jack said, "go! Get out of here, Carter."

Sam grinned at him and left.

o-O-o

"…and this is the chair room," Sam declared with a sweep of her arm.

"Control room," Rodney McKay snapped, without looking at her from his position by the chair. "This is the control room."

"Chair room," Doctor Carson Beckett mouthed at Sam in agreement and looked at her companion speculatively. "And who is this?"

Sam smiled at his Scottish burr. "Carson Beckett, please meet the newest member of SG1, Major John Sheppard."

John smiled sheepishly beside her and held out his hand for the doctor to shake. "Nice to meet you, Doctor."

"Call me Carson," Carson offered.

Rodney scrambled to his feet. "That's not fair! I'm the senior scientist, I should have been introduced first!"

Sam rolled her eyes at him. "Rodney, John Sheppard. John, this is Doctor McKay."

John shook hands with Rodney, his lips twitching with amusement. "Good to meet you too, McKay."

"Hrumph," said Rodney, clutching his tablet tighter. He glared at Sam. "Are you sure there's a brain under that hair?"

John's eyebrows rose.

"Enough that I'm planning to convince him to finish his doctorate in math," Sam confirmed cheerfully.

John blushed, the tips of his ears turning red, but he covered with a smirk in Rodney's direction. "I'm thinking about joining MENSA."

"Huh," said Rodney, suddenly regarding John with a speculative look.

"I didn't realise you are looking for a fourth member," commented Carson. "We'd heard a rumour General O'Neill had decided to leave the position open."

"We had a rethink after we ran the numbers against our old missions," Sam admitted, pulling off her gloves.

"Sensible," Rodney said brusquely.

"Be nice, Rodney," Sam cautioned him, "it's John's first day."

They'd interviewed him the day before when they'd arrived at McMurdo. As Sam had suspected from the reports, Jack had immediately recognised himself in John and had fully endorsed her bringing him onto SG1.

"John," Sam said, turning to him, "go with Carson and get examined. Come back when you're done."

"Yes, Colonel," John said respectfully.

Carson chattered to him as they left the room and Sam joined Rodney by the chair. She plugged her own laptop into the console and started to examine the data.

"When's O'Neill going to sit in the chair?" asked Rodney abruptly.

"Once he's finished meeting with Elizabeth and Colonel Edwards," Sam said, frowning at the seemingly impenetrable firewall.

Rodney huffed. "You mean when he stops them from killing each other."

Sam's lips twitched as she tried not to smile. She'd recognised the tension when they'd arrived and had used the opportunity of getting John oriented to excuse herself. Both Jack and Daniel had thrown her betrayed looks.

Teal'c was the only member of SG1 not with them. He had gone off world the day before to meet up with Bra'tac and Rya'c. They needed the intelligence of what was going on in the rest of the galaxy; what Ba'al and the other Goa'uld were up to, and if Anubis was back in play.

"I, uh, I wanted to thank, uh, you for recommending me to…"

Sam didn't even look up to wave away his thank you. "You're an arrogant know-it-all, Rodney, but you deserve the position."

"Right," Rodney said, sounding a little aggrieved and hurt.

Sam looked up. A sliver of guilt curled through her. Maybe she'd always ignored how much he wanted to belong; how much of a truly good man lurked underneath the arrogance. Carter had told her about Rodney's heroism in Atlantis. Her timeline counterpart had worried that Rodney wouldn't be forged into the man he'd become if they changed the path for Atlantis.

Sam reached over and placed a hand on Rodney's arm. His startled expression at her touching him almost made her smile. "You're a good man and a good friend, Rodney."

Rodney puffed up at the praise.

"Actually," Sam continued suddenly inspired, "I could do with your help."

"Of course, anything," stuttered Rodney, who seemed a little shell-shocked by her words.

"John's got a lot of catching up to do," Sam said, "and normally Daniel would be the one to do it, but I get the feeling Elizabeth…" she gestured rather than say the likelihood of Elizabeth boggarting all of Daniel's time was pretty assured out loud.

"Right, yes," Rodney got her meaning straight away. "I'd be happy to, uh, help."

"Thank you, Rodney," Sam said. Maybe if she had John and Rodney spend some time together they'd form something of the friendship they'd had which had come through in the mission reports. She turned back to her laptop. "This encryption is insane."

"I know," Rodney began to babble about everything he'd tried to do to break it and they spent enough time brainstorming and arguing that Jack's arrival with Daniel and Elizabeth was almost a surprise.

"OK, campers," Jack said, striding towards the chair, "let's get this over with."

Rodney and Sam exchanged a brief look which covered their silent agreement to park their latest debate.

"Just give us a moment, sir," Sam said, halting Jack's advance on the chair.

Jack hovered impatiently while Sam and Rodney readied their computers to take scans and recordings. She was aware of John arriving back.

"OK, sir," Sam said, "the chair is yours."

Jack took a step and then stopped. He glanced back at John who stood in a semblance of an at ease position at the back of the room. "Sheppard, take a seat."

The entire room stared at Jack.

"Sir?" asked John, taking a tentative step forward.

Sam stared at Jack nonplussed. "Uh, sir, John's just had his initial examination and…"

"We don't even know if he has the gene!" Rodney blurted out.

"What better way to find out?" Jack pointed out.

Daniel pushed his glasses up his nose. "He has a point."

John frowned at Jack. "You did tell me not to touch anything, sir."

"Sit your ass down, Sheppard," Jack motioned for John to step up.

John glanced toward Sam who gave a nod.

"It's safe," Sam confirmed. "If you have the gene, it should activate, just try thinking of a status report on the chair's functions."

"Or the solar system," Rodney chimed in.

"It's unlikely I do have this gene thing, right?" John said as he sat down tentatively.

The chair immediately activated, swivelling back and leaving John scrambling to hold on.

"Woah!" John breathed out.

"Solar system!" Rodney barked. "Think of where we are in the solar system!"

A projection appeared above the chair; planets circling the sun, Earth identified with a marker for the outpost.

"Did I do that?" asked John, his voice filled with awe.

Sam bit her lip.

"Think about Atlantis," Daniel said, stepping up to the chair, "think about where Atlantis is."

The projection changed.

Another solar system; another planet with a wide expanse of water and a mainland. The picture zoomed in on Atlantis in the sea; hidden under the ocean.

"Holy Hannah," Sam breathed out faintly.

She'd known; seen the pictures in Carter's reports but this…this felt magical.

"We've found her," Elizabeth declared.

Jack frowned. "Finding her is one thing, getting to her is another." He pointed at a series of Atlantean symbols. "Danny, is that what I think it is?"

Daniel repositioned himself to peer at the symbols closely. "It's a gate address but it has eight symbols…"

"Another galaxy," Sam supplied. "Seven to locate a gate in our own galaxy…"

"Eight in another," Daniel finished.

"The power requirements would be…" Rodney mimed something blowing up.

The projection changed into a ZPM.

"Right," Rodney commented, "we'd need one of those."

"Uh, we have one of those?" Daniel pointed out.

"It's powering the outpost," Jack shot back.

Sam cleared her throat. "I've been working on a way to power the outpost using naquadria generators. If we can get those to work…"

"Then we have a power source to get to Atlantis," Daniel said excitedly.

Elizabeth looked just as thrilled standing beside him.

Sam held up a hand. "It may still drain our ZPM," she looked at Jack, "we'd need to run the calculations, sir."

Jack looked at her and sighed. He rubbed a hand through his hair. He gestured at John. "Ask the thing how we destroy a half-ascended being like Anubis."

The projection changed to an Ark, a whole set of Atlantean text on the side.

"The Ark of Truth," Elizabeth translated. She frowned. "It's meant to weaken the Ascended by making their followers realise the truth that they are not gods. What does that mean?"

"It means that the Ascended can gain power by people worshipping them as gods," Daniel answered, crossing his arms, "just like the Goa'uld did. Only this suggests some kind of metaphysical power transfer?" His nose wrinkled.

John's brow creased. "I think there's an address?"

Another solar system appeared along with another stargate address.

"This is a different galaxy address to Atlantis," Daniel sighed.

Sam felt a shiver go down her spine. The Ori galaxy.

"Are there any schematics?" Rodney asked.

"I'll ask," John said. A second later, a set of schematics appeared.

Both Rodney and Sam stepped closer. They looked at each other.

"Can you build it?" asked Jack impatiently.

"Can we build it?" parroted Rodney. "Do you know how much…"

Sam put her hand on his arm to stop the tirade and turned back to Jack. "It'll take some time to study these schematics properly, sir, and to work out if the materials we have come close to substituting the originals." She paused. "I'm also concerned, sir, that this talks about weakening an Ascended being but not completely eliminating them."

"That is a very good point," Jack allowed, nodding at her.

"So, we'll still need to go to Atlantis?" questioned Elizabeth, unable to hide her eagerness.

The picture changed.

"What's this?" asked Jack.

Sam glanced down at John.

"Uh, I stopped thinking about the Ascended thing and just thought about something which eliminates Anubis?" offered John.

"Huh, he really does have brains under that hair," Rodney commented.

Jack gestured at the picture. "What is it?"

Daniel frowned. "Dakara."

"And that means?" Jack prompted.

"It doesn't mean anything, it's a location," Daniel replied, "it's a sacred place to the Jaffa. It's where they are said to be born."

"Uh, General," Sam pointed at a figure in the gate address.

"For crying out loud! Don't tell me," Jack said, "it's in another galaxy."

"No, sir, it's in our galaxy," Sam said, "but," she stressed before he could be too relieved, "it is in the middle of Goa'uld territory."

"Of course it is," Jack sighed.

"Maybe we can find something in Atlantis itself," Elizabeth offered.

Jack hummed.

"Sir," Sam cut in, "I think it's obvious John has a natural affinity for the chair. I recommend we mine the database. We've come up with three different options in the space of five minutes; we might discover something better if we properly interrogate the database."

"She's right."

Sam almost gaped at Rodney's snappish show of support.

"We have no idea how much information is buried in this database," Rodney said, his chin up with a hint of his usual belligerence, "we should take the time to, uh," he gestured vaguely, "you know, rule out other options."

Jack's gaze went to Daniel.

Daniel heaved a sigh but nodded. "They have a good point and I'm not going to argue about spending time exploring the database here."

Elizabeth coughed. "I think it would be prudent though to start planning for an expedition to Atlantis, General."

Jack sighed. He looked back over at Sam.

She gave a small nod to him. "It couldn't hurt to begin planning now, sir. If we do have to go to Atlantis, we'd need to be properly prepared for a trip given the Prometheus won't finish repairs for a while and the Daedalus is in final build."

"Alright," Jack declared, "SG1 will stay and mine the database; Elizabeth, you have permission to start planning in the event we'll need to go to Atlantis." He gestured at John. "You stay in the chair, apparently I have calls to make."

Sam watched him leave, Elizabeth following in his wake. "Daniel?"

Daniel hummed, his eyes on the projection.

"Daniel!"

Daniel's eyes snapped to her. "Huh?"

"Go help the General," Sam instructed with a jerk of her blonde head.

Daniel clearly replayed the last few moments in his head; his eyes widened and he pointed his thumb towards the exit. "I'll just go help Jack with those calls."

Sam sighed and shook her head.

"Uh, how long do I need to stay in this chair?" asked John.

"Why?" asked Rodney, oblivious to any reason why John would need to leave.

"I think that's enough for now," Sam said firmly.

Rodney's head shot back up. "But…"

"Thank God," John muttered, righting the chair.

"It's lunch time," Sam said brightly, "Rodney, why don't you show John the mess and I'll make sure everything is saved here?"

Rodney floundered but nodded. "Right. The mess. I can show you the mess."

John looked at Sam curiously, but he went off with Rodney.

Sam sighed. Changing time was easier said than done.

o-O-o

"I never thought I would hear myself utter these words, but I need that report," Jack said, hovering at the end of Sam's lab table.

The lab itself was dark; the blinking signals of the machines, the computer screen, and a single lamp the only sources of light.

"Oh," Sam murmured, "I, uh, I'll have it for you first thing tomorrow and…"

"Carter, it is tomorrow," Jack said.

Sam looked the computer clock and winced.

"Look, forget the report," Jack took another step into the room and leaned on the edge of the table. "What's going on with you? You haven't tried to distract me with science babble and I haven't had a disgruntled Weir complaining about you poking into her preparation plans for days."

"She still blames me for the decision to wait on the Prometheus, doesn't she, sir?" joked Sam.

"Well, for that and introducing the terrible twins."

Sam grinned. John and Rodney had fallen into their friendship with surprising ease and they were just as troublesome as the reports she'd read.

"I still don't know how you got McKay to agree to off world mission training," Jack said.

"You agreed, sir," Sam pointed out dryly.

Jack made a dismissive gesture. "And don't think I don't see you avoiding the question, Carter, so I'm going to ask you again." He held her gaze. "What's going on with you?"

For a second the urge to tell him was so strong, Sam thought she could taste the words on her tongue. She wrestled 'I'm trying to change time' back behind her teeth and sighed heavily. There was one guaranteed subject which would make Jack retreat.

"I broke up with Pete," Sam said bluntly. She had actually broken up with Pete weeks before, just before their trip to the Antarctic.

Jack reared back before he caught himself and stopped, trying to act as though he hadn't reacted at all. "You…" he swallowed and gestured vaguely at her, "why?" He caught himself again. "I mean, I know it's not my business, Carter, but if you want to talk about it…like a friend to another friend."

Her lips twitched and she almost smiled at his stumbling effort. "Pete and I…we weren't on the same page about our relationship." She bit her lip. "I'm sorry if I've been distracted."

"Pish-posh, Carter," Jack said waving a hand, "you distracted is worth more than most people."

"Thank you, sir," Sam said.

Jack nodded, his eyes on hers. "For what it's worth, Carter, I'm sorry it didn't work out."

"I'm not."

The words were out of her mouth before she could reconsider them.

Jack stared at her; surprise written all over his face.

Sam took a breath. Carter had called him _Jack_. Not General. Carter had mourned Jack; grieved for Jack. She pressed her lips together. Maybe Sam could have this, maybe…

"I've been thinking about my future in the programme," Sam began.

Jack blinked, taken aback by the change of subject.

"Colonel Ryder is due to retire as the Head of R&D out at Area 51 before the end of the year," Sam said. "I thought I might apply and transfer."

Jack frowned heavily. "What about SG1?"

"Either Colonel Mitchell or Major Sheppard would be candidates for team lead," Sam pointed out, "Captain Hailey would be back from maternity leave, and honestly, sir, both you and I know Teal'c and Daniel will likely seek to move on themselves at some point."

Jack sighed and straightened. His dog tags glistened against his black BDU t-shirt. "Nevada, _really_?"

Sam felt her heartbeat pick up speed. "The Head of R&D reports directly into General Hammond, sir."

Jack's eyes widened.

"I was hoping the change might mean I would have the opportunity to do things which I've wanted but have had to decline before," Sam continued, holding his gaze, "like fishing."

For a very long moment, possibly the longest moment of Sam's life, Jack was silent.

"Fishing," Jack repeated slowly, his eyes still on hers.

"Fishing," Sam said again, trying to keep her breathing even.

Jack started smiling. "I highly recommend fishing."

Sam couldn't help smiling back at him. "So, I should look forward to an invitation?"

"You can look forward," Jack said.

They grinned at each other inanely.

Jack cleared his throat. "Carter, if this plan of yours doesn't pan out…"

"There's always plan B, sir," Sam assured him.

Jack smiled again, softer but just as sincere in its happiness. "Always."

They stayed for a beat too long looking at each other before her monitor beeped at her and had Jack waving at it.

"Whatcha working on so late anyhow, Carter?" asked Jack.

Sam glanced at the document on the screen. "I was reviewing the information Agent Barrett sent on The Trust."

Jack hummed. "Have they found the 'anonymous' source?" He mimed the quotation marks.

Sam's lips twitched as she shook her head. "No, sir." And since she was the anonymous source and it was the reason why she'd been so distracted for the past few days, she was very confident they wouldn't be finding her.

"That reminds me," Jack said, "the CIA are bringing in Alec Colson tomorrow. You up for questioning him? You worked with him, right?"

"I did," Sam confirmed, "and I'm happy to help." Although she couldn't see a different resolution to essentially having to exile Alec again.

"Well, we should call it a night," Jack recommended.

Sam nodded. "I'll just finish up, sir."

Jack returned her nod and stepped towards the door. He stopped and turned back. "Carter?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Why now?"

Sam looked up from her monitor and met Jack's gaze. There was nothing but genuine curiosity shining in his brown eyes. "I just think it's time, don't you, sir?"

Jack nodded. "Get some rest, Carter."

Sam watched as he departed and breathed out. She couldn't quite believe she'd done it. Couldn't quite believe she'd had the courage to do it. She couldn't help the smile that flitted back to her lips.

She and Jack had a plan.

They had a plan for _them_, to become a them.

Changing time by comparison was a piece of cake, Sam considered with a grin.

o-O-o

"I can't believe you just executed her!" Daniel protested, gesticulating with his cutlery. Beside him, the porthole showed nothing but the light of hyperspace.

Teal'c looked at him evenly. "She was a Replicator."

"She was Sam!" Daniel argued.

"She was a Replicator with all of Sam's intelligence, a super-computer for a brain, and not one ounce of her humanity," John pointed out dryly. "Personally, I'm just glad we were able to stop her before we all became her minions."

"You and Teal'c did a great job," Sam said. She'd assigned both of them to dealing with the Replicator situation since she and Daniel had been tied up with the final preparations of the Atlantis expedition.

"But…" Daniel began again.

"I blew up a sun without being a Replicator, Daniel," Sam added, scooping up more blue jello, "think what a Replicator version of me could have done."

Daniel blinked. "OK, that's a good point."

"Hello, campers," Jack dragged over another chair and took a seat next to Sam. He leaned in and whispered in a loud voice. "Is he still complaining about the Replicator?"

"Yep," Sam confirmed, grinning.

"I can hear you," Daniel muttered.

Jack straightened and waved at John. "You did good, Sheppard."

"Thank you, sir," John said laconically.

"Where's your bumbling sidekick?" asked Jack.

"I think he sees himself as more of a Batman to my Clark Kent," John replied with a smirk.

"Who are the rest of us then?" asked Daniel bemused.

"I don't care?" said Jack.

"Colonel Carter is clearly Wonder Woman," Teal'c said firmly.

"Thank you, Teal'c," Sam said, laughing. "Speaking of secret identities, has the woman in the super-soldier suit said anything?"

Jack grimaced. "Lots of things. None of which are repeatable."

"I can try talking with her," suggested Daniel.

"Thank you," Jack said sincerely. "You can see if she actually has an answer for trying to steal my ship."

"Isn't Colonel Pendergast in command?" asked Daniel with exaggerated innocence.

"Doesn't it say General on my uniform?" Jack retorted.

"Actually, no," Daniel shot back. He sighed. "I don't know why we had to risk travelling to Atlantis by ship when we could have gated with the ZPM the Langford dig found last month."

Sam kept her focus on the last of her food. She had written to Catherine and her old mentor had come through for her. Catherine had ensured one of her digs had found the ZPM and sent it to the SGC all without disclosing Sam's own involvement.

"Because we need the ZPM to shield Atlantis?" Jack needled.

"We could have…"

"Major Sheppard," Teal'c interrupted Daniel and Jack's bickering brusquely, "I believe you were going to share the whereabouts of Doctor McKay."

"I was?" John shot a look at Teal'c who stared back at him. "Right. I was." He waved a tin mug in the direction of the door. "He's in the engine room with the Asgard."

"They make you nervous, Sheppard?" asked Jack.

"Any race which goes around naked makes me nervous, sir," John said.

"Yeah," Jack said, forking up more stew, "can't really argue with that as much as I love their little grey butts."

Daniel glanced around and frowned. "If the super-soldier is caught, why is Elizabeth still in her room?"

"Colonel Pendergast confined her to her quarters, Daniel," Sam said dryly.

"I would have done the same," Jack said, mopping up the stew with some bread.

"She was only trying to help!" Daniel said. "She thought she was beaming victims of an attack to safety."

"Against orders!" Jack shot back. "We were trying to contain the situation which looked like a trap, smelled like a trap, and oh, yes; was a trap!"

"Her actions led to an enemy beaming aboard this ship and endangering the mission to Atlantis, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c stated evenly.

"She was trying to do the right thing," John countered, "she just, you know, went about it in all the wrong ways."

"Which is why she's confined," Jack sighed. He picked up his mug and grimaced at the overly bitter coffee.

Daniel sighed. "What's going to happen to her?"

Sam took a sip of her tea. Elizabeth had been appointed as Chief Diplomat and Head of Social Sciences to Atlantis after the information about the Wraith had been found in the outpost's database, and the IOA had accepted that there would be a need to militarise the expedition.

"Commodore Carmichael's considering his options," Jack said simply. "It's his call."

His respect for his old friend Jerry Carmichael was evident. Sam liked the gruff British Naval Officer. He was a good man and he'd taken firm command of the Allied forces assigned to Atlantis. Sam had been impressed with his preparations and his calm authority. She wondered what impact such a different leader would have on the future of the Pegasus galaxy.

Daniel pushed his chair back. "I'm going to speak with the woman we captured." He was gone before any of them could say anything else.

John looked over at her and Sam nodded. He took off after Daniel.

"I still don't see why I had to come," Jack grumbled.

"I believe you were given no option by the President, O'Neill," Teal'c teased.

Jack abandoned the rest of his coffee. "I really hope this isn't a wild goose chase."

"Daniel said Moros was the leader of the Atlantean Council," Sam said, "it makes sense that if he did design a weapon to kill Ascended beings he might have abandoned the plans in Atlantis."

At least she hoped it was there. She really didn't want to go on an Arthurian quest and for Daniel to have Merlin or rather Moros downloaded into his head again.

"Well," Jack sighed, "I have to go attend another meeting."

"Sorry to hear that, sir," Sam said insincerely.

"I should order the SG1 team leader to come with me," Jack teased.

Sam just gazed serenely back at him.

"Fine," Jack grumbled without heat, "I'll go and suffer on my own." He grinned at her and left.

Sam turned back from watching Jack leave and froze at Teal'c's knowing look. "Uh, Teal'c…"

"Your secrets are safe with me, Colonel Carter," Teal'c assured her.

Sam's eyes twinkled at him. "Indeed."

o-O-o

"Remind me again why we can't just let this storm hit Atlantis!" Jack shouted, through the rain and the wind lashing at them.

Sam grimaced from underneath the grounding station she was repairing. "Because we need to find a way to defeat Anubis!"

"And remind me again why we're out here getting soaked?" shouted Jack.

"Because you volunteered us?" Sam retorted. She considered her aggrieved tone. "Sir."

"At least I didn't volunteer for the farthest of the things!" Jack said defensively.

Sam's lips curved into a semblance of a smile. "John didn't volunteer either." Rodney had commandeered him.

The radio crackled.

"Sam?" Rodney's voice.

Sam grimaced and pressed the button down to respond. "Almost done, Rodney."

"Doctor Novak and I are done," Commodore Carmichael confirmed, his gruff voice stuttering out of the radio. "We're on our way to the control room."

"Doctor Zelenka has successfully completed the task," Teal'c confirmed.

"McKay and I are almost done," John reported.

"Carter!" Jack's voice was almost a whine.

"Done!" Sam declared. She radioed their progress and they started back to the control room. They were both grateful to rush inside and shut the bad weather out with a closed door.

"How soon can we get the shield up?" asked Jack, shaking himself like a wet dog.

"As soon as the grounding stations are all activated," Sam said. "We'll just need you or John to sit in the chair and monitor the power distribution."

The radio crackled again.

"Code RED!" Carmichael's voice shouted through the device. "CODE FUCKING RED!"

Sam and Jack exchanged an anxious look.

A Wraith Queen?!

Where had a Wraith Queen…

The underwater power station, Sam realised. Somehow their arrival on Atlantis had woken the Queen and caused her to come to the surface looking for food. What had changed to make that happen? She shook the thought away and took a firmer hold of her P90 as they started to run.

"Where are you, Carmichael?" asked Jack urgently.

There was nothing but a short burst of gunfire in response through the radio.

Sam's heart pounded as they ran for the transporter-elevator. They were closest. They could try to get there in time before the Wraith fed; before she was able to get a telepathic message out to the rest of the Wraith...

"Prometheus," Jack radioed them as they ran, "come in!"

"The storm is interfering with the signal!" Sam reminded him. "We can't contact them and they won't get a clear signal to beam us out!"

They threw themselves into the transporter.

Jack reviewed the map and stabbed a finger at the nearest location. They zapped away and emerged in a dark corridor.

It felt like every horror movie Sam had ever seen.

They both silently switched on their lights.

Jack signalled for her to take the left side of the corridor; he took the right. They jogged in tandem; shoulder to shoulder; their breaths quiet in the corridor. They were following the corridor back out to the elements and the grounding station.

Pounding footsteps coming towards them halted their progress. There was a turn in the corridor; they had no visibility.

Jack signalled their play.

Sam pressed herself close against the wall as Jack moved to get a better look, crouching and aiming. He suddenly dropped his stance and stood up, just in time to hook an arm around a running Novak who struck out at him.

Sam moved to help him wrestle Lindsey into submission. "It's OK, you're safe! You're safe!"

"No," Lindsey hiccupped through tears, gesturing back to where she had come from, "she's relentless! He told me to run! He told me…"

Sam repositioned herself to cover Jack as he shifted to grasp Lindsey's shoulders and forced her to look at him.

"He was right," Jack said firmly, "and I'm going to tell you to do the same. Run back to the control room. Now."

Lindsey nodded, sniffed loudly and took off again.

Jack and Sam exchanged another silent look. They both fell into position without words and started jogging again.

Sam covered Jack once they got to the exit. He triggered the door and they stepped into the wild rain.

Visibility was terrible.

Sam controlled her breathing and kept her aim firm as they began to walk.

The Queen came out of nowhere.

She barrelled into them and sent them flying before they could get a shot off. She went for Jack, launching herself while he was prone on the ground. He wrestled her back; grabbing hold of her arms to keep her from feeding on him.

Sam righted herself, tried to catch her breath and aimed. She peppered the back of the Queen with shot after shot.

The Queen screamed and turned…

Jack kicked her off him and went for his knife; he stabbed her in her neck…

Sam started firing again…

The Queen threw Jack further down the pier. She plucked the knife from her neck as though it was nothing more pesky than a splinter…she threw it at Sam who dived out of the way…

The Queen advanced again on Jack who was still, so still…

Sam put her gun down, took out her own knife and ran…

She jumped on the Queen's back and grabbed her head, trying to force her neck back to cut her throat…

The Queen threw herself and Sam backwards…

Sam cried out as her back hit the pier…

The Queen shifted, turning herself, her arm…

Teal'c appeared from nowhere and threw the Queen from her.

Sam scrambled to safety as Teal'c engaged with the Queen in a fight. She skidded back to where she'd left her gun, hoping she wasn't too late…

The Queen grabbed Teal'c by the throat; her hand going back to strike him…

John appeared beside Sam; his gun aimed and firing…covering Sam and saving Teal'c as the Queen turned to scream at them…

Sam got her own gun ready; fired again.

John started to move closer to the Queen as Teal'c punched the Queen in the face and got loose, dropping to the pier…

The Queen kicked the Jaffa aside and he went flying. She started to advance on John, but John never stopped firing…

John suddenly dropped his weapon and went for something in his vest. As the Queen reached for him, John evaded her grip but closed in and slapped something on her chest…his eyes meeting the Queen's briefly before he ducked and ran…

"Take cover!" John yelled. "NOW!" He grabbed Teal'c and dragged him back behind a pylon.

Sam dived for cover behind a vent…

The Queen exploded in a ball of yellow and red fire…

Sam panted as she took stock. The Queen was dead. Bits of her body littered the pier, the rain already beginning to wash away the blood. Sam got to her feet and ran for Jack.

She crouched down beside him, but he was starting to come to on his own.

"What hit me?" asked Jack grumpily.

Sam gently examined his head. "You have a bump and graze back here."

"Help me up, Carter," Jack demanded.

She grasped his hand and together they staggered to their feet.

The rain was torrential. They barely made out the two figures stood further down the pier. Jack and Sam walked slowly over to them.

Her heart sank as she saw the decrepit body of Carmichael on the ground by their feet.

"He's gone," John shouted to them. "We need to get back inside and raise the shield! We'll come back for the body."

Jack nodded. Sam held onto him one side, Teal'c took the other, and he limped between them on their way back. They passed the Queen's remains and Sam grimaced as they stepped through blood and guts.

"C4?" Jack shouted to John.

John gave a brisk nod.

"Good job!"

"It was Rodney's plan, sir," John said.

Jack looked disbelieving but said nothing. Sam couldn't help smiling as they got back inside. The more things changed, she mused…

o-O-o

Sam sat down next to Jack around the oddly shaped table and watched as the others took their seats.

Daniel took his usual seat on the other side of Jack, Teal'c beside him, with Major Teldy, Captains Cadman and Kustov, and Sergeant Campbell arraigning themselves as best they could on that side. John sat next to Sam, Rodney next to him while Doctor Carolyn Lam slid into the chair beside Rodney. Elizabeth walked in and frowned at the lack of seats, reluctantly taking the empty chair next to Carolyn.

"Carter, why don't you start on how clean-up is going?" Jack prompted briskly.

"Clearing teams have been formed and are securing the control tower and surrounding towers. We're prioritising medical, accommodation and lab space," Sam noted dispassionately. "A temporary mess has been set-up. A small security team has been assigned for night shift hours to man the control room and keep watch of the city's sensors."

"Any problems so far?" asked Jack, glancing over at the rest of the military contingent.

"This whole place is a booby trap waiting to happen," Teldy spoke up, "we're having to be careful and slow at clearing. Colonel Carter ensured each team has someone with the Ancient gene and that was a good call."

"Careful and slow are my middle names," Jack declared.

Sam ducked her head to hide her smile.

"Any logistical issues?" Jack continued. "McKay?" He turned to him with a hint of usual impatience.

Rodney sighed. "There's a lot more wrong with the city than right. We're not at full power with only one full ZPM and maintenance is going to be an issue. We're focused right now on getting things operational and assisting the clearing teams."

"What about the Stargate?" asked Elizabeth.

Sergeant Campbell shifted and Jack nodded at him to speak.

"The control room is functioning," Campbell confirmed, his accent giving away his Canadian heritage. "We've had two tests of the Stargate; no issues in establishing a viable wormhole."

"Shouldn't we start sending teams out?" asked Elizabeth. "We need to begin making alliances, especially if that Queen alerted the rest of the Wraith."

"You're right," Jack answered, "we do need to establish a presence and to gather intelligence, but," he held up a finger, "we need Atlantis secure first."

"I just think," Elizabeth began, leaning forward.

A knock interrupted her.

Lieutenant Ford entered. "Sir," he stood in front of the General painfully awkward in the way of new officers, "there's been an incident with Vala, I mean, Ms. Mal Doran. You need to come straight away."

"Oh, for crying out loud," Jack muttered. He glared at Daniel who had vouched for the former Goa'uld host and started out of the room.

Sam followed him, trusting the rest of the team to follow. They made quite a procession as they made their way through Atlantis to a lab.

Carter's reports had not prepared Sam for the reality of Vala. She was a force of nature; a deceptively fragile-looking, petite dark-haired woman. But she was a fighter and her eyes gave away an inner strength. Sam felt the tingle of naquadah in her blood; the only sign she'd been a host. Sam felt for her.

It wasn't easy being an ex-host; to deal with the memories left behind which were not her own; Sam empathised on that basis alone. But Vala had also been bereft of support in the aftermath of being rescued by the Tok'ra. She'd had to survive on her own. Her mercenary attitude and cold hustler act had clearly been well-honed by circumstance.

When they entered the lab, Vala stood off to one side with two young Marines guarding her.

"Daniel!" Vala lit up at the sight of Sam's team-mate.

Sam and Jack exchanged an amused look. Watching Vala and Daniel interact was great entertainment.

"Daniel, you have to tell them that…"

"What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Vala proclaimed loudly. "I found her!" She pointed at the open stasis chamber.

Jack grimaced at the sight of the dead old woman lying there in a white shroud; there was a clear handprint on her chest.

"Is it just me or does that look like Elizabeth?" asked John tightly.

Sam knew it was Elizabeth, recalling the report with ease. She grimaced. She'd forgotten about another timeline Elizabeth being in stasis.

"What?" Elizabeth pushed her way into the front of the gathering and stared at the woman. She swallowed hard.

"It does look, uh, like you," Rodney said quietly.

"It _was_ her," Vala supplied with an inappropriate smirk, "it said so in that journal." She motioned towards a green book on the centre console.

"I confiscated the book from Ms. Mal Doran's possession when we found her in here," Ford said.

"Doc?" prompted Jack.

Carolyn moved forward and Sam joined her. As Carolyn examined the body, Sam checked out the controls.

"Power was cut four or five weeks ago," Sam noted. She sighed. No doubt the expedition being delayed had meant that there wasn't enough power for the stasis to be maintained. She examined the logs carefully. "Sir, I believe that she had been in there for a very long time. Thousands of years. There's a subroutine to wake her every three thousand years or so."

Daniel had picked up the journal and had started to leaf through the pages.

Elizabeth frowned and crossed her arms. "Daniel, if this was me, shouldn't I be the one to read her – _my_ journal?"

"Actually, no," Jack said before Daniel could answer. "This is an investigation into what happened here and if you are her," he gestured at the chamber, "you're too close to this."

Daniel cleared his throat. "The journal suggests it was Elizabeth Weir."

"She's from another timeline where the city was flooded just after the expedition arrived," Vala twirled her pigtail around a finger, "she and John Sheppard escaped into a small spaceship they found…"

"Puddlejumper," John stressed loudly.

"…and somehow they travelled back to when the Ancients held the city," Vala finished.

Jack sent her an exasperated look before he turned to Daniel.

"She's right," Daniel held up the book, "I need time to read this properly."

"Cause of death seems obvious given the handprint it was a Wraith, although given her age I can't imagine she was much food for it. I'll need to do an autopsy and run DNA profiles to verify," Carolyn said, pushing her hands into the pockets of her white lab coat.

"Do we have another Wraith in the city?" asked Jack brusquely.

Sam shook her head and gestured for Rodney to reply.

"Uh, no?" Rodney tapped his tablet. "Our sensors say no?"

"It's unlikely, sir," Sam confirmed. "We've adjusted the sensors to pick up Wraith life signs."

"OK," Jack sighed. He stabbed a finger at Vala. "You are now in Daniel's custody."

"What?!" Daniel protested.

"She's your problem now and if I have to handcuff you together, I'll do it!" Jack said cheerfully.

Daniel glared at him.

Jack ignored him. "Finish reading the journal and confirm what happened to…to whoever she was. Doc, get on that autopsy." He nodded over at Sam. "I want you and the rest of SG1 focused on why we're here; Daniel can join you when he's done. We need to find that weapon Moron created."

"Moros," Daniel corrected.

"Like I said," Jack replied.

o-O-o

"Are we there yet?" Vala asked.

Sam held her weapon firmly, the torchlight glancing over the darkened corridor, and tried not to be irritated by the question since she was also tired of the seemingly endless traipse through the city.

Sam had eschewed questioning the hologram as they had done in the past. She didn't trust Ganos Lal not to interfere again and it was clear that the Ascended being had a reason to stop them from completing the Sangraal. The weapon was a threat to the Ascended; it could kill them just as easily as it could kill the Ori or Anubis. Sam believed that Ganos Lal had deliberately sabotaged them in the previous timeline. The way the Ascended being had set-up Moros and the quest had ensured that there would only ever be one opportunity to use the Sangraal. Sam rather thought that might have been why Ganos Lal had in the end given over her existence to battle Adria eternally; as a penance.

Interrogating the database the same way they had done the outpost by having John in the chair had proved to be much more fruitful; they'd quickly discovered Moros had a lab on Atlantis secreted away in a remote tower. The section had been provided with a minimal amount of power to help their search, but primary lighting was offline.

They'd gathered a small team and arrived by puddlejumper; landing on the roof of the tower and making their way down to the lower floors.

"I really think I should have a weapon," Vala complained.

"I really think you should shut up," Daniel muttered.

"But then…"

"I'm going to shoot the next person who mouths off," Jack declared tersely.

"Can I ask what constitutes mouthing off exactly?" Rodney asked nervously. "Only when I'm anxious I tend to speak aloud and…"

"McKay!" said John sharply.

"Right, shutting up," muttered Rodney.

"We can't be too far off Moros' lab now," Daniel said.

John checked the small hand device that they had found. "I'm getting a strange energy reading ahead of us."

They all came to a halt in front of what appeared to be a dead end.

Vala reached out and tapped the wall. A jolt of electricity burned her knuckles and the wall rippled. "OW!"

"Vala!" Daniel said exasperated and went to check on her.

Sam shoved her gun aside to retrieve her own Earthly device. She started to scan the wall.

Rodney was glued to John's side, his eyes on the LSD. "There's an energy field."

Vala rolled her eyes and shoved her hand toward Daniel. "Aren't you going to kiss it better?"

Sam zeroed in on a panel to the far right. Rodney followed her over. They worked to take the panel covering off and Rodney connected his tablet.

"Carter?" questioned Jack impatiently.

Sam frowned at the array. "We're going to need some time to figure this out, sir."

"Great," Jack glanced around, picked a wall and sat down.

Vala eagerly followed his example.

John and Daniel shrugged at each other before they sat down.

Teal'c remained standing.

Sam focused on deciphering the code in front of her and tuned out Vala teasing John and Daniel. She and Rodney spent a good hour examining the array; they spent a good part of that debating how to short-circuit it without blowing up the tower. Finally, they turned back to the team.

Jack was playing with a yoyo much to Vala's fascination. John and Daniel were playing mental chess.

"There's good news and bad news," Sam declared, "the good news is that we've found a way in…"

"And the bad news?" asked Jack dryly.

"We need the password!" Rodney exclaimed sourly.

Jack got to his feet and brushed his hands down his green BDUs. "Can you break it?"

"This isn't Windows!" Rodney blustered. "We can't just hack it!"

"Actually, I think we can," Sam said, spotting something in the code, "the key is an eight-symbol address."

Daniel moved up beside her. "A gate address."

"That's most likely," Sam agreed.

"Earth?" asked Daniel, pushing his glasses up.

Sam didn't think that it was the right address.

"Isn't that too obvious?" asked John.

"Aren't all passwords obvious?" countered Jack.

"He's right," Daniel added, "I mean, sure we all know we're meant to create an indecipherable string of letters, symbols and numbers but when it comes down to it most of us use something memorable to us."

"But would Moros choose Earth?" questioned Sam. "What if that wasn't his memorable place?"

"You think he chose somewhere else?" Daniel said excitedly.

"Oh, oh, I know this!" Vala stuck her arm up in the air. "When we were questioning the chair, didn't it say that Moros was born in another galaxy," she clicked her fingers, "I know it, I know it, it's on the tip of my…"

"Altera," Daniel said out loud.

Vala squealed and kissed him soundly.

"OK, that's enough of that," Jack said, nudging Vala off Daniel. "Do you have the address?"

Daniel wrinkled his nose and shook his head.

"I do," John said.

Jack motioned for him to step up to the tablet.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Rodney waved his arms frantically. "What if it's not that and there's a security feature? We could all blow up!"

Jack immediately looked at Sam. "Are we going to blow up, Carter?"

"I don't think so, sir," Sam shook her head, "the code didn't suggest that, but I can't rule it out completely."

"See!" Rodney pointed triumphantly at her.

"We'll take the risk," Jack motioned for John to get on with it.

John reached for the tablet and Rodney handed it over with evident reluctance. John made to enter the information and stopped with his fingers over the tablet.

"Uh, sir," John said, "just in case the security feature is explosive, perhaps you should all wait further down the corridor?"

The rest of SG1 including its former leader simply exchanged glances and stayed put.

Rodney's eyes darted from one to another before he threw up his hands. "Fine, I guess we're all staying!"

"We're really staying?" Vala questioned in a stage whisper to Teal'c. "Is this typical?"

"It is indeed, Vala Mal Doran," Teal'c replied in a low rumble.

"We're fully informed," Daniel said brightly.

John shook his head and quickly tapped out a series of symbols.

The wall behind him shimmered and disappeared revealing a large laboratory space with rooms beyond.

"Open sesame," John joked.

"Don't touch anything!" Jack warned them all. He stopped directly in front of Vala. "You," he pointed at her, "you especially don't touch anything!"

"Not even Daniel?" Vala pouted.

Daniel sent Jack a horrified look as Jack seemed to consider his response; Sam tried to turn her chuckle into a cough.

Jack's attention switched to her. "Shall we?" He swept his arm towards the lab.

They all took a step forward and…

A bright light filled the space for a long moment.

Sam shielded her eyes from it with her arm before the familiarity of it had her lowering it. She refrained from aiming her weapon knowing that it would do no good.

An Ascended being stood in front of them.

"You are trespassing," she said sternly.

Daniel took a step forward. "You're Ganos Lal."

Ganos ignored him, keeping her eyes on Jack. "Leave."

"I don't think so," Jack countered. "You're interfering. I'm pretty sure that's against the rules."

"Oh, it is," said a silky male voice from a corner of the lab.

They all turned in surprise.

The glowing form of a tall man with brown hair and twinkling eyes, dressed in a white tunic top and pants, walked forward.

"Janus," Ganos said warningly.

"Now, now, Ganos," Janus said, "you and I both know this is highly improper." He paused. "Just as we know the Others will not step into stop you given the reason."

"Uh, sorry?" Daniel said, breaking the furious glare Ganos was bestowing on Janus. "What's going on?"

"Daniel!" Janus said delighted. "It is marvellous to see you again and so human!"

Vala leaned into Daniel's space. "You weren't human at some point?"

"I was…" Daniel shook his head, "never mind," he gestured at Janus and Ganos, "what are you doing here?"

"I can answer that," Jack remarked sarcastically, "she's attempting to stop us finding a way to destroy Anubis."

"Yes and no," Janus replied.

"I can speak for myself," Ganos said sharply. She turned back to them. "The Sangraal will not help you."

"You just don't want us to use it," John stated evenly.

"Of course they don't want us to use it," Rodney added, "if it can kill Anubis, it could kill them!"

And bingo, Sam thought as Ganos looked momentarily chagrined.

"He is correct, Ganos," Janus said, "it was the reason why the Others allowed you to descend and take form as Morgana of the Fey. You were meant to ensure the secret of the Sangraal was destroyed entirely."

"But you didn't," Sam jumped in, "did you? Otherwise we wouldn't be standing here."

"You seeded the knowledge of it into the myths and legends of our world," Daniel said, "and probably others. Why?"

"There is only one reason to keep knowledge of a weapon capable of destroying an entire race of beings," Teal'c noted.

"But not her people," John announced quietly, "I remember from the chair; there was some kind of religious disagreement which caused a split. The Alterans fled to our home galaxy. They left the religious sect behind; the Ori."

"Elizabeth was right to sing your praises," Janus said.

"Elizabeth?" queried Rodney.

Janus sighed, his face drooping. "I was unable to do more than help her ensure Atlantis would survive and rise when the shield and power failed." He shook his head. "I never imagined she would try and establish a working connection to the underwater power station. Her actions roused the Wraith Queen from her sleep. You're lucky she was greedy enough to want to keep her new hunting grounds for herself."

"So, we're not going to be eaten by Wraith any time soon?" asked Rodney bluntly.

They all looked at him.

"I'm just checking!" Rodney said.

"You will encounter the Wraith if you remain on Atlantis, that is inevitable," Janus glanced over at Sam, "no matter how much one would like to prevent it from happening."

"The Ori," Daniel muttered, dragging their attention back to the most relevant topic, "the Alterans fled their galaxy and left behind the Ori."

Sam watched as Daniel's genius leaped to all the right conclusions.

"The Ori were worshipped as Gods in their home galaxy, gaining enormous power," Daniel said, "the Alterans sought to weaken them," he gestured at Ganos, "they created the Ark of Truth but it wasn't enough so they left." He glared at Ganos. "Moros had to believe that they remained a threat; that's why he created the Sangraal; to kill the Ori."

"He had a vision of the destruction the Ori would bring in a far distant future," Janus said, "but he had not the final knowledge required to defeat them until he Ascended."

"So, he descended as Merlin keeping his knowledge and created the Sangraal," Daniel deduced.

"But the existence of the weapon was enough to alarm our kin," Janus continued, "and so Ganos was tasked with destroying the weapon."

Daniel's head snapped to look at the Ascended woman who had remained silent. "You destroyed the weapon."

"She did," Janus agreed cheerfully.

"But she couldn't destroy knowledge of the weapon in case Moros was right about the Ori bringing destruction in the future," Vala commented, sombre for the first time since they'd met her.

Daniel sent her a look of approval before turning back to Ganos. "You couldn't destroy the only chance the Ancients might have at defeating their old enemy."

"It does not change the fact that the Sangraal cannot be used to destroy Anubis," Ganos said firmly.

"Why not? Because it only works for fully Ascended beings?" Rodney questioned her.

"If the device can be programmed to destroy energy in a certain physical plane, it can be altered to target a specific energy signature," Sam theorised.

Rodney nodded. "Theoretically."

"Even if you were to change the weapon," Ganos said, "the Others would prevent its use."

"And still we ask the question why?" said Jack.

"How did Anubis get to be a half-Ascended being anyway?" asked John suddenly.

Janus smiled slowly. "And now the right question has been asked."

"Ascension is only achieved when an individual learns to leave their personal burdens, the ties to who they are, behind," Daniel thought out loud, "a Goa'uld would never do that." He froze, shock flitting across his face.

"Daniel?" prompted Jack.

"A Goa'uld would never Ascend, could never Ascend," Daniel explained bitterly, "not without help." He breathed out in a heavy sigh. "Oma."

"Your friend Oma?" questioned John. "The one who Ascended you?"

Daniel nodded. He glared at the two Ascended beings. "That's what this is about, isn't it? Anubis is allowed to exist as a…as a reminder to Oma of her crime!"

"Yes, Daniel," Oma said, shocking them all into turning back around. Oma stood glowing in the corridor of Atlantis. She made a hand gesture.

Suddenly, Atlantis disappeared around them and they found themselves in an open field, a dormant Stargate beside them.

Sam brought her weapon to bear; John, Jack and Teal'c all doing the same. Rodney fumbled for the hand weapon he had been issued. Vala spun around as though she couldn't believe what had happened.

Sam stared up at the stars and frowned at the night sky. "Sir, we're back in our own galaxy."

"Awesome," Jack muttered.

"We're on Kheb, sir," Sam said, her memory jolting as she recognised the Stargate's position and location.

Daniel walked over to Oma. "It's true then? You Ascended Anubis?"

"He came to me in the form of a small boy," Oma said, "Ra had tortured him. He claimed he wanted to change, to leave behind the evil of the Goa'uld."

"He lied," Jack said bluntly.

"Yes, he lied," Oma confirmed, never taking her eyes off Daniel. "By the time I realised, it was too late."

"A sentence was passed," Janus said, "Anubis was hobbled, unable to access any knowledge but that which he could gain in the mortal plane."

"And I was forced to watch his atrocities," Oma completed.

"And yet you still fail to learn, sister," Ganos said.

Daniel's eyes lit up with fury. "That's it?!" He paced away and back again. "All this time! All this time Anubis gets to exist and cause pain and destruction on our plane so the Ancient Ascended can punish Oma for trying to do a good thing?"

"It is a crime," Janus said softly. "One she continues to commit."

"It isn't right!" Daniel shouted.

Sam bit her lip.

"You've said that before," Janus commented.

Suddenly, a set of rings descended; light glowing in the twilight purple of the dark.

Sam immediately aimed at the forms left behind; a figure in a dark cloak with four super-soldiers surrounding him. They immediately started firing their energy weapons at SG1.

"TAKE COVER!" Jack yelled.

Sam ran; she caught Vala's arm and dragged her with her, running full pelt to a large boulder and throwing them both behind it.

Vala nodded her thanks as an energy bolt went over her head. "Can I have a…"

Sam offered her the handgun she carried.

Sam knew it was futile. They didn't have the right weapon to stop the super-soldiers with them…but they both broke cover and started firing at the super-soldier bearing down on them.

Another super-soldier was advancing on a log where John and Rodney were positioned; Sam could see Rodney struggling to reload the hand-gun he had but he was bravely doing his best.

Sam spotted Jack across the clearing behind one tree; Teal'c protecting Daniel behind another; they were all trying to stop the advance of two of the super-soldiers and Anubis who was using telekinesis to rip shrubbery, trees and dirt out of the way as he headed for Daniel.

In the clearing, the three Ascended beings transformed into their energy forms…

And the world froze.

Lightening erupted from the sky, zapping the super-soldiers and destroying them completely.

A blink of an eye later and Sam found herself lined up with SG1 in a messy line in front of an active Stargate. Janus and Ganos reverted to their human visages but they stayed back across the clearing from SG1 leaving Oma and Anubis in the middle of the gathering.

Oma faced Anubis in the light of the event horizon. "This will stop!"

Anubis glowered at her; the handsome face of his host was already beginning to show signs of decay. "You think you can stop this?" He taunted her. "I will destroy Daniel Jackson and these Tau'ri and you cannot stop me!"

Daniel stepped forward. "Ascend me again!" He called out. "Ascend me and I'll stop him!"

Anubis laughed cruelly. "You've already tried and failed once before Daniel Jackson! They will always stop you!" He smirked at Daniel. "You cannot stop me; you don't have the power to stop me."

"No," Oma said, "but I do."

Anubis spun to face her again. "You…but you can't defeat me."

"But I can fight you," Oma said, "I can fight you and you will not be able to do anything but fight me back."

Oma looked over at Janus and Ganos. "This was always the lesson I needed to learn."

She transformed into light and advanced on Anubis.

"No," Anubis tried to retreat, "no, no, no!"

She enveloped him.

There was an explosion of light; a ball of red and gold energy spun in the air; it slowly rose and disappeared.

Daniel stared up at the sky. Jack walked forward and put a hand on his shoulder. Sam joined them, standing close enough that her elbow nudged Daniel's on his other. Teal'c stopped beside Jack, his eyes heavenward.

"She gave her life to save ours," Daniel said sadly.

"It is an honourable end," Teal'c said.

There was a brief moment of silence.

"Oh no, you don't!" John wrestled Vala into their line-up.

Vala blinked innocently at them. "What? I was just…"

"Sneaking off," John said dryly.

"Well, I rather thought our business was done," Vala claimed brightly, "after all, I tried to steal your ship and was caught, but now we're back in our own galaxy, you can leave me here."

"We're not leaving you," Sam said before anyone else could reply.

"We're not?"

Both Daniel and Jack spoke in unison.

"I think Vala would make a great addition to SG1, sir," Sam said cheerfully.

"WHAT?!"

Both Daniel and Jack yelped.

"You do?" Vala stuttered.

"I agree with Colonel Carter," Teal'c said, "you will be a great asset to our team."

Sam nodded. "Of course, if you want to leave…"

"No!" Vala said before regaining her poise. "I mean, I can stay." She sniffed. "It's clear you need me and Daniel will be devastated if I leave."

"No, I won't," denied Daniel.

Sam and Vala grinned at each other.

"What just happened?" asked Jack, sounding a touch bewildered.

"Uh, did we win?" asked Rodney. "Because I'm not sure two energy beings fighting for all eternity is a win?"

"Anubis was defeated," Ganos said, "you will not need the Sangraal." She transformed and disappeared leaving them with Janus.

"Carter," Jack said urgently, "was she right about the Sangraal?"

"We don't need it to defeat Anubis, sir," Sam considered the future. It was unlikely that they would need the Sangraal with the changes to the timeline. She could put a protocol in place for the communication stones once Jack's and the barber's were discovered. Still… "But I think it would be prudent to track down the knowledge of how to build it."

Jack sighed and rubbed a hand through his hair. "So, back to Atlantis?"

"You will not find what you seek in Atlantis," Janus said. He winked at Sam. "But all knowledge may be regained in time."

Sam swallowed hard. Clearly Janus knew about her tampering.

"Speaking of Atlantis; exactly how are we getting back?" asked Rodney caustically. "We're in our galaxy and Atlantis is in Pegasus and we don't have a ship!"

Janus smiled at them warmly. "Walk through the Stargate." He transformed into a shimmering ball of light.

Jack motioned for them all to head to the Stargate.

Sam took a breath as they neared the event horizon but she stepped through…and into the gate room in Atlantis.

Alarms were sounding and she was pleased to see their security had properly responded.

"General! Colonel Carter!" Major Teldy all but ran down the stairs to greet them; Elizabeth was close on her heels. "We saw your signals had disappeared from the tower and we were just arranging a rescue mission! What happened?"

"Long story," Jack said shortly, "debrief in one hour." He paused. "And Carter?"

Sam looked over at him. "Yes, sir?"

"You brought her back, you're responsible for her," Jack quipped, pointing at Vala, "_and_, you're explaining her to General Hammond."

"Yes, sir," Sam replied.

Daniel smirked as he walked past her.

Teal'c bowed his head and left.

John and Rodney were already ambling away, arguing about the merits of Ascension.

Vala hooked her arm through Sam's. "This is going to be fun!"

Sam thought of all the changes she had managed and grinned back at her. "Yes, it really is."

o-O-o

_**2008**_

"Incoming wormhole!" Walter's announcement echoed through the conference room.

Sam was on her feet and moving with a familiarity born of her many years of service. She noted the date with a smile as she looked at the calendar by Walter's elbow. It was the day after Ba'al's attempted change to the timeline which had caused Carter to time travel. For the first time since Carter had given her the laptop, Sam had no prior knowledge of things to come, things that may come. Well, she considered wryly, the Ori might still make an appearance at some point, but they had managed to avoid drawing their attention in the new timeline Sam had wrought.

"What have we got?" asked Jack, coming to stand beside her. He was back in his BDUs where he was most comfortable. His latest trip to Washington had led to almost daily complaints about how he had to wear the service blues.

Daniel and Teal'c entered the control room at a run, Vala and Cameron Mitchell bringing up the rear.

"Wormhole origin is the…the Nox homeworld, sir," Walter reported.

Jack threw Sam a 'what do you think' look.

She shrugged. "If we don't open the iris, they'll just come through anyway."

"Open the iris!" Jack ordered.

"Why do you think they're contacting us now?" asked Daniel.

The Nox had refused an invitation to a galaxy summit the year before when the Asgard had declared them the Fifth race and gifted them a copy of the Asgard database core. Sam was just pleased that Thor was alive and the Asgard were thriving having overcome their genetic issues.

"How should I know, Daniel?" Jack said grumpily.

"Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed, didn't they?" teased Vala.

Jack shot her a glare.

Sam wrestled her smile back. "He got called in at oh-three-hundred."

"And do you know why?" demanded Jack. "Because someone discovered a sentient plant!"

Daniel frowned. "It's not my fault Haldor decided to speak up in the middle of the night."

"He spoke up because you were talking to him?!" Jack pointed out furiously.

"If you're having trouble sleeping Daniel, I know several ways to tire you out," Vala commented brightly.

Daniel blushed red.

Sam didn't bother to hide her grin and exchanged a small fist-bump with Vala. Vala and Daniel still danced around their attraction. Well, mostly Vala teased Daniel covering for her very genuine affection and Daniel refused to let himself give into loving someone again despite defending her with all the ferocity of a wolf protecting its mate. Not that Sam could say anything given how long she and Jack had taken to get together.

Her plan had worked out primarily thanks to Jack refusing to go to Homeworld after George Hammond's first heart-attack. Instead General Vidrine, a long-time ally of the programme, had been appointed. Sam had taken the Head of R&D position and revolutionised their space travel with the F305. She had remained in Nevada for a year, maintaining a long-distance relationship with Jack, before requesting the Head of R&D should be relocated to the Mountain. Vidrine had agreed. Sam and Jack had quietly married a year later. They were happy.

"Is it just me or is this taking longer than usual?" asked Jack impatiently.

"Just you," Daniel shot back before anyone else could reply.

"It is taking substantially longer than typical for the Nox to come through the wormhole, O'Neill," Teal'c corrected.

Sam smiled at him. Teal'c's time leading the Free Jaffa hadn't gone as badly as the reports had suggested but he'd ultimately returned to them as their liaison and ambassador, and everyone was happier for it.

"I have important things to get on with," Jack complained.

They all looked at with frank disbelief, except for Mitchell who had perfected the blank look most officers developed – the one that said 'I know my CO is being an idiot but I cannot show that.'

"What?" Jack said. "I do."

"Sure," Daniel said, wrinkling his nose, "you have meetings and paperwork."

"_Important_ meetings and paperwork," Jack stressed. "I could be reading Sheppard's reports right now."

"At least they're entertaining," commented Mitchell.

"You should read Rodney's," Sam said dryly.

"I can't believe the IOA decided to send Woolsey to replace Landry," Daniel complained.

Sam hummed. Hank Landry had been a good choice for the Atlantis expedition. He'd apparently adopted John as the son he'd never had and while John's innovative style remained firmly in place, it had been tempered into a disciplined brilliance. He'd excelled in his command skills under Landry's mentorship in a way that she figured he'd never had the opportunity to do in the previous timeline.

"I was most pleased to hear that Colonel Sheppard had been appointed as the new military commander as General Landry recommended," Teal'c said.

"Right, what nobody can understand why they decided to send Woolsey as the expedition leader," Mitchell commented.

Jack shrugged. "They think with the threat of the Replicators eliminated and the Wraith contained for the time being it's time to de-militarise the expedition."

"Until the threat of the Wraith is eliminated, the expedition must remain vigilant," Teal'c intoned.

"Quite right," Jack said.

The event horizon rippled and Lya of the Nox stepped through holding the hand of a young girl with curly brown hair.

Sam froze. The last time she'd seen the little girl she'd been hallucinating on the Prometheus. "Grace?"

When the girl broke away from Lya and charged across the gate room, Sam automatically crouched to receive her, holding her tightly as she threw herself into Sam's arms and burst into tears.

For the first time Sam could remember Lya looked chagrined and almost lost.

The wormhole winked out.

"Perhaps we should adjourn," Lya suggested.

Jack nodded. "Yes, because we have questions; all the questions."

Grace cried herself into an exhausted sleep. Sam put her on the sofa in Jack's office before she took her seat at the conference table.

Lya made a hand movement and a simple wooden box appeared on the table along with a folded piece of parchment. "Your answers are in this letter, Samantha."

Sam picked up the parchment and unfolded it.

"_Sam,_

_After I corrected the timeline, I was going to go straight to the Nox to live out the rest of my life, but I couldn't resist the temptation to go forward and spend one last night with my Jack. I pretended to him that I was testing Ancient technology in the future and had somehow ended up back on Earth a few days before I was supposed to arrive for Ba'al's extraction ceremony. _

_I had one more night with him and I left to travel to the past and the Nox. Grace is the happy result of that night._

_Unfortunately, over a year ago, we realised my time travel had caused a cellular degradation; I was dying. The Nox offered to heal me but the truth is that even their healing can only slow or reverse it briefly, not eliminate it completely. Luckily, Grace has shown no signs of the degradation._

_Please look after her as I cannot. This is my final request; take care of my baby._

_With hope, Carter"_

Sam breathed in sharply and passed the letter to Jack. She had told Jack about the visit from Carter and the changes she'd made in the timeline years ago before they'd married. Jack's response had been to mock demand that they go watch an old World Series match and Sam had laughingly refused.

Jack put the paper on the table. "Well, so that happened."

Daniel picked up the paper and frowned. "The little girl is yours and Sam's from a different timeline version?"

"She asked for us to bring Grace to you once she passed," Lya said. She looked toward the box. "She requested to be placed at rest with her family."

Sam felt Jack's gaze on her and she lifted her eyes to meet his. They'd talked about children, but while they'd never taken any precautions, nothing had happened. But in his office there was a little girl, younger even than Cassie when she had come to them.

Jack tilted his head. "I guess we're redecorating the spare room."

Sam smiled at him. "I guess we are."

"Congratulations to you both," Teal'c said.

The rest of the day disappeared in a blur. It felt like a minute passed between reading the letter and tucking Grace into the bed in their spare room.

Sam let Jack pull her into hug as they gazed on their…their daughter from the doorway.

"You tell Cassie yet?" asked Jack.

"Yep," Sam replied, "I think she muttered something about a dog."

"Every Earth kid needs a dog," Jack replied almost absently.

"That excuse didn't work on Janet," Sam pointed out.

Jack shrugged. "You know she's going to be trouble." He sounded far too gleeful.

"She's an O'Neill, of course she's going to be trouble," Sam said dryly. Watching the two of them earlier that day had been special. Jack was already wrapped around Grace's finger.

"Personally, I'm blaming the Carter genes," Jack said, hugging her closer.

There was a knock on the front door, drawing their attention for a second before it was overtaken by the sounds of Daniel and Teal'c barrelling in. The faint aroma of pizza wafted down the hallway to them.

"Which of them do you think is going to spoil her the most?" asked Jack.

"Teal'c," Sam replied without hesitation.

Jack dropped a kiss on her lips and eased away to lope down the hallway to corral their former team-mates, their family.

Sam gazed at Grace for a long moment.

Any woman, whether they thought they were strong or not, could be broken and lost. But the pieces could be salvaged, pieced together again; made whole again, and stronger than ever. Something good could emerge from the pain and mess of grief and loss.

Sam was blessed; she knew that and she knew she owed Carter for her blessings. She was valued both personally and professionally; she had loving friends and family; she had Jack. She had a daughter to love and cherish, and probably in the very near future, there would be a dog.

And she would protect what she had, fiercely and with all her strength.

The End.


End file.
